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PRICE 30 CENTS 




ItOpIT 




BY T.G REINER. 




PUBLISHED 



NMATLEEBURPEE&S 



PHiy\DEr.PHIA» 



CELERY FOR PROFIT. 



QREINER. 



Celery for Profit. 



AN EXPOSE OF MODERN 
METHODS IN CELERY GROWING. 



BY T. ^REINER, 

AUTHOR OF "ONIONS FOR PROFIT," "HOW TO MAKE THE GARDEN 

PAY," "THE NEW ONION CULTURE," "PRACTICAL 

FARM CHEMISTRY," ETC. 



SECOND EDITION 










m%^ 



PUBLISHED BY " /' / 

W. ATLEE BURPEE & CO., SEEDSMEN, 
PHILADELPHIA, PA. 



Spring, 1893, 



Copyright, 1893, ^^ ^- Atlee Rurpee & Co. 



^.'^ 



(b-^ 



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WM. F, FELL & CO., 

Electrotypers and Printers, 
1220-24 sansom street, philadelphsa. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I.— GLITTERING GENERALITIES. 

PAGE 

Rambling Remarks, Prospective and Retrospective, ... 9 



CHAPTER IL— THE HOME GARDEN CROP. 

Good Results With Little Labor. — Value of the Crop. — The 
Early Home Supply. — Raising the Plants. — Setting Out. — 
Blanching by Boards. — The Late Home Supply. — Raising the 
Plants. — Planting.— Blanching, 12 

CHAPTER HL— WHERE THE PROFIT LIES. 

Celery for the Summer Market. — Celery Growing in Kala- 
mazoo. — Chances Elsewhere. — Growing the Plants. — Hotbeds 
and Greenhouses. — Flats in Cucumber Forcing House. — The 
Water-bench. — Preparing the Ground. — Setting the Plants. — 
Culture. — Handling. -Celery Hoe, — Celery Hillers. — Methods 
of Blanching, 26 

CHAPTER IV.— A CROP TO FILL IN. 

Celery for the Fall and Winter Market, — Growing the 
Plants. — Packing Plants for Shipping. — Setting the Plants. — U. 
S. Weather Signals. — Culture. — Handling. — Blanching, ... 43 

CHAPTER v.— THE NEW CELERY CULTURE. 

A New Way Promising Large Profits. — Indispensable Requi- 
sites. — The New Method in the Home Garden.— In the Mar- 
ket Garden. — A Celery Shed, , 5^ 



vi TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VI.— THE IRRIGATION PROBLEM. 

PAGE 

Making Success a Certainty. — An Irrigated Field. — Irrigation 
by Box Ditch. — Tile Lines as Water Distributors.— Watering 
by Hose, 57 

CHAPTER VII.— THE ENEMIES OF THE CROP. 

Insects and Diseases, and How to Fight Them. — The Pars- 
ley Worm. — The Cabbage Plusia. — Slugs. — Celery Blights. — 
Celery Rust. — Bacteria 63 

CHAPTER VIII.— THE WINTERING PROBLEM. 

How TO Keep and Blanch the Crop for Winter Use. — Re- 
quisites of Success. — Storing in Cellar. — In Box. — In Hotbed- 
Frame. — Storage in Trenches. — In Root-Houses or Pits, ... 68 

CHAPTER IX.— MARKETING METHODS. 

How to Turn the Crop Into Cash.— General Advice.— Pre- 
paring for Market. — Packages. — Crate for Shipping Summer 
Celery, 74 

CHAPTER X.— PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT. 

The Outcome in Dollars and Cents.— Estimates of Profit.— 
Loss Not Impossible. — Profits of the Summer Crop. — Profits of 
the Late Crop. — Final Word of Warning, 80 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Fig ^"^^ 

I." Celery Plants Grown 2 Inches Apart, I5 

2. Celery Plants Grown }4 an Inch Apart, i6 

3. Plant Properly Trimmed, ^7 

4. Wooden Dibbers, ^^ 

5. Blanching by Boards (ready to be set up), 20 

6. << Boards (in position, end view), 20 

7. « Boards (in position, side view), 21 

8. " Boards (thrown back), 21 

9. Shading by Boards, 24 

10. Fire Hotbed, Cross Section, 28 

H. Fire Hotbed, Length Section, 29 

12. Sash-roofed Greenhouse, 3° 

13. Rows of Flats in Cucumber Forcing House, 3^ 

14. Cross Section of Rows, 35 

15. Celery After Handling, . 3^ 

16. Celery Tied with Cotton Yarn • • 37 

17. Celery Hoe, 37 

18. Celery Hiller (Planet, Jr. Double), 39 

19. Celery After Earthing Up, 4° 

20. Machine for Hilling Celery, 4° 

21. Bleaching by Various Methods, 4i 

22. Celery Plants in Basket for Shipping, 4^ 

23. U. S. Weather Flags, 4^ 

24. The New Celery Culture in the Home Garden, 52 

25. Newly-set Plants Shaded with Fine Hay, 53 

26. Glimpse at Corner of Patch, New Celery Culture, 54 

27. A Celery Shed, 55 

28. Irrigated Field, 57 

29. Irrigation by Box Ditch 5^ 

30. Tile Lines as Water Distributors, 59 

vii 



viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Fig. page 

31. Tile Lines near Surface, 60 

32. Parsley Worm and Cabbage Plusia, 64 

12^. Diseased Leaves, 66 

34. Celery Stored in Box, , , 69 

35. Celery Stored in Hotbed Frame, 69 

36. Celery Stored in Narrow Trench, 7° 

37. Celery Stored in Wide Trench, 7^ 

38. Ways of Trimming the Roots, 75 

39. Bunch of Celery, 7^ 

40. Open Crate for Shipping Celery, 77 

41. New Crate for Marketing Celery, 78 



Celery for Profit. 



GLITTERING GENERALITIES. 

RAMBLING REMARKS, PROSPECTIVE AND 
RETROSPECTIVE. 

What a remarkable change — that which the last decade 
has witnessed in our celery industry, both in regard to pro- 
duction and consumption ! Only ten years ago celery was 
a rarity and a luxury. The majority of rural people hardly 
knew it by name, and, perhaps, had never seen or tasted a 
stalk. The professional market gardener grew it in a 
limited and laborious way, mostly for city consumers who 
could afford to pay a good price for the article, and then 
the supply lasted only during a short period of each year. 

How different now ! You find a little patch of celery 
in every complete home garden. In various parts of the 
country it is grown by tens, by hundreds, even by thou- 
sands of acres. The tables of every hotel, down to the 
fourth and fifth rank, of every boarding-house, no matter 
how modest, are provided with celery almost the whole 
year round. People have learned to like the taste of the 
vegetable, and they will have it. They can afford to have 
it, too, even if they must buy it, because the supply now 
is large and prices have come down to moderate figures. 

Similar changes have, within the memory of persons not 
yet of middle age, taken place in the production and con- 
sumption of strawberries, grapes, tomatoes, and other 

9 



10 CELERY FOR PROFIT. 

fruits and vegetables. All these changes are hopeful and 
satisfactory signs of the times. The American people are 
getting to be more and more weaned from the flesh-pots of 
old Yankeedom, and into the habit of substituting there- 
for the fruits of the promised land. This means a steady 
move in the right direction — away from an excessive, 
almost exclusive meat diet, and toward civilization and 
refinement. 

Notwithstanding all the abundance of celery in our mar- 
kets, I claim that we do not yet grow enough to reach 
fully around. Notwithstanding the moderate and often low 
prices at which celery can now be purchased in almost 
every town, I claim that celery growing can be made more 
profitable than any other branch of gardening. 

In explanation of the one claim, I assert that too many 
rural people are yet without a full home supply, and in 
that of the other, that the introduction of the White Plume 
celery, and of improved methods of culture, are rendering 
celery growing so simple and cheap, that the prices now 
obtainable, low as they are, will repay the cost of produc- 
tion many times over. In fact, it has become now as easy 
to grow celery as to grow carrots or potatoes. 

The introduction of the White Plume marks the begin- 
ning of a new era in celery culture, just as that of the 
Prizetaker onion marks that of a new era in onion grow- 
ing. In all its consequences it has brought us a complete 
revolution in methods. 

The home grower now need fear no great difficulty, no 
unusual or excessive labor, and hardly a failure. The newer 
kinds and methods enable the market grower to produce a 
number of times the quantity per acre that was grown by 
the old practices, and in some cases even two successive 
celery crops on the same piece of ground. 

The old methods now cease to be profitable. They are 



GLITTERING GENERALITIES. 11 

too cumbersome, too troublesome, too laborious, too ex- 
pensive. The grower must, of necessity, adopt the newer 
improved ways of culture or be left behind in the race. 
The times of digging deep trenches for celery are past. 
Even the more recent but un-American system practiced 
by the Kalamazoo people will not prevail much longer. 

If you have a little patch of ground, no matter how 
small, that is used for gardening purposes, you are (or 
should be) a grower of celery. If you grow celery, even 
to the smallest extent, you will be interested in the follow- 
ing pages, and it will pay you well to study the information 
found in them. I have tried to give plain and com- 
plete directions, without side issues or useless flourishes. 
May they help the reader on the way to full success in the 
production of one of the choicest, most palatable, and 
most wholesome vegetables that were ever brought under 
cultivation. 

T. Greiner. 

La Salle, N. K, Autumn of iSgs, 



II. 

THE HOME GARDEN CROP. 
GOOD RESULTS WITH LITTLE LABOR. 

VALUE OF THE CROP. — THE EARLY HOME SUPPLY. — RAISING THE 
PLANTS — SETTING OUT. — BLANCHING BY BOARDS. — THE LATE 
HOME SUPPLY.— RAISING THE PLANTS. — PLANTING.— BLANCHING. 

My friends should not accuse me of losing sight of my 
text. I promised to write on '' celery for profit." Do not 
imagine that this does not include the home garden crop. 
If the reader has never been bountifully provided with 
good celery, or has never observed *^ confirmed celery eat- 
ers" "at work," I wish he could see the quantities of 
this vegetable that are brought upon my table, and notice 
the keen enjoyment with which all members of my family 
take hold of the crisp stalks. I would not miss the privi- 
lege of having a full home supply of this choice delicacy for 
many dollars. Many persons, probably a large majority, 
cannot appreciate the full force of this statement, simply 
because they have never or seldom had a chance to find 
out what a fine and enjoyable thing celery, when in per- 
fection, really is. They may have had a taste of the stale 
stuff ordinarily found in the retail markets — wilted, tough, 
stringy, strong in flavor — and, of course, they do not like 
it. The solid, brittle stalks and hearts of true chestnut 
flavor and crispness are an altogether different thing. 

Nine out of every ten of the many persons who claim 
that they "do not like celery " I would willingly engage 
to cure forever of this dislike, simply by letting them have 
a few tastes of the crisp, nutty centre-stalks of well-grown, 
freshly-gathered celery. 

12 



THE HOME GARDEN CROP. 13 

Thus far I have spoken only of the enjoyment and com- 
forts found in a good home supply of good celery. Much 
might also be said about the sanitary, if not medical, effects 
of a celery diet. This vegetable is generally recognized 
as a nerve tonic and nerve stimulant. If its free use makes 
you stronger, healthier, it may save you doctors' visits 
and outlays for medicines. If it saves expense, it has a 
money value, and is profitable. And then, health is worth 
more than money. 

But besides all this there is some real, shiny, jingling 
cash in the home garden crop of celery. The man, or 
woman, or boy, who has succeeded in growing some nice 
stalks, always has neighbors who, when they hear of it or 
see it — may this be early in the season or late — will want 
some. It has been so in my experience, and I never knew 
it to be otherwise anywhere. They will want it, and be 
willing to pay even a better price for it than the grower 
could secure through the regular channels of city trade. 
It is true the amounts may be small — a dime or a quarter 
now and then — but even small amounts come handy and 
help to bear the expenses of running a home garden. Every 
little helps, you know. Really, why not make the home 
garden self-supporting by selling some of the surplus vege- 
tables that even a quarter-acre vegetable patch produces ? 
If you raise good garden stuff of any kind, I am sure there 
will be somebody in your vicinity willing and anxious to 
get some of it at a reasonable price. 

The Early Home Supply. 
The first celery from my home garden usually comes 
upon my table about or shortly after the middle of July. 
Any home grower, however unskilled, can have it at that 
time just as well as myself, for, as I stated before, early 
celery, after the plants are grown, is as easily produced as 



14 CELERY FOR PROFIT. 

carrots, and much easier than many other of our leading 
vegetables. 

Sometimes I buy the plants needed for the early crop. 
White Plume is the variety you want for this purpose. 
Commercial growers will furnish them to you during May, 
the proper time for setting them out, at ^^4.00 per 1000. A 
couple of hundred plants will give an abundant supply to 
even a large family, and, perhaps, some to spare for the 
neighbors. 

Usually it is safer and cheaper to grow the plants than 
to buy them ; and this is the course I prefer, and always 
try to take. Invest five or ten cents in a packet of White 
Plume celery seed. Along in the latter part of February 
fill a flat box, or a large flower-pot, with nice, clean, mellow 
loam, well pressed down and firmed. Apply water enough 
to make the soil quite moist; then sow the seed, either 
broadcast or in narrow rows, rather thickly, and sift just 
a little sand or fine soil over it, firming well afterward. 
Cover the box or pot with a single thickness of light paper 
or cloth to keep the soil dark and moist, and set it into the 
kitchen or sitting-room window, or in any other place 
having a comfortable but. moderate temperature. A hot- 
bed, with moderate bottom heat, would be a still better 
place for it, but not every home gardener can have it thus 
early in the season. 

About ten days after sowing, the seeds will begin to 
sprout. Remove the paper or cloth cover and gradually 
get the young plants accustomed to the light and air. 
Always water promptly, never letting the soil become tho- 
roughly dry, yet at the same time carefully avoiding the 
opposite extreme. 

Next comes the performance which professional garden- 
ers call '' pricking out." This means the first transplant- 
ing of the young seedlings into other boxes or '' flats," for 



THE HOME GARDEN CROP. 15 

the purpose of giving them more and uniform space, and 
of encouraging root growth. From two to four small 
boxes — each say sixteen and one- half inches long, nine 
inches wide, and four inches deep — will hold all the plants 
necessary for any average family's home supply of celery. 
In place of the flats the plants may be set out directly in 
a hot-bed, or even a cold frame. 

The tiny seedlings transplant easily. Set them one-half 
or three-quarters of an inch apart, with rows about three 
inches apart, which will give from fifty to seventy-five 






m 



z^ 







Plants in Flats, Two Inches Apart in Row. 

plants to the flat or to an equivalent space in the frame. 
Water well, and keep them lightly shaded for a day or two, 
should the weather be very bright. This is about all the 
care they will need until their final transfer to the open 
ground, unless they should grow very rank, when it will be 
necessary, or at least advisable, to shear or clip off a large 
part of the tops. Spindling plants are not wanted. 

Neither should we go to the opposite extreme. When 
plants are given much space, their roots will develop, as 



16 



CELER V FOR PROFIT. 



shown in Fig. i. We thus obtain fine-looking, short, 
stocky plants, and they will be all right, when we take 
them up with the soil adhering to their roots, and set them 
out with some care. 

In Fig. 2 we see plants crowded together to one-half 
inch apart in the row, as I have advised you to set them in 
the flats or frames. In this case the roots grow long and 
fleshy, like parsley roots. These plants can be taken up 



a 



Fig. 2. 



4 ^ ^c-miiwi'^Mh^^ 



<f>u 




Plants in Fl\ts, One half Inch Apart in Row. 



with less care, and set out in the open ground more rapidly 
and more conveniently than the others. The fleshy roots 
contain reserve forces upon which the plant can draw dur- 
ing the time when it tries to get a new hold in the soil. 
They also reach down further into the stratum of perpetual 
moisture than the finer, sprawling roots of the plants in 
Fig. I. In short, the advantages seem to be mostly on the 
side of the plants grown more closely. 



THE HOME GARDEN CROP. 



17 



Having once secured good plants — such as shown in Fig. 
2 — with which to begin outdoor operations, the battle is 
about half won. Any spot, any vacant row in the well- 
manured garden may be used for our purpose. Where the 
garden was plowed ''in lands" or beds, or when furrows 
were left purposely for surface drainage, these furrows may 
be utilized, or a furrow or two may be opened on a vacant 



Fig. 3. 



^Pf'^.ffi 




A Plant Properly Trimmed. 



Strip, or between crops of quick growth that we know will 
be off by July, such as early peas, radishes, early lettuce, 
bunching onions, etc. Fill these furrows with fine, rich 
old compost (if containing a portion of poultry manure, 
all the better) and then mix this compost and the soil well 
together, either by means of the plow, cultivator, or even 



18 



CELER V EOR PROFIT. 



with the spade. Firm the soil well, and smooth the surface 
with hoe and rake, and you are ready for setting the plants, 
which should always be done as soon as possible after the 
ground is prepared and while still moist. 

Stretch a garden line a couple of inches to one side of 
where the row of plants is to stand, or make a mark for 
the row in the most convenient way. Now get the plants 
ready. Pull them up out of the flats or frame \ put them 
in bunches of convenient size, and cut off the ends of both 
root and top, as illustrated in Fig. 3. Plants thus trimmed 



Fig. 




Wooden Dibbers. 



handle well, and usually stand the ordeal of transplanting 
better than plants with all the tops, and the long, slim 
root-ends left on. 

In nice, mellow loam, sandy and especially mucky soils, 
setting out celery plants is easy work, and the index finger 
may be used for making the openings ; but I always prefer 
to use a small dibber, similar to those shown in Fig. 4. 
You can easily whittle one out of a piece of dry limb, 
preferably of hickory or apple tree. This will answer the 



THE HOME GARDEN CROP. 19 

purpose as well as any dibber you could buy. Set the 
plants about five inches apart in a straight line, pressing 
the soil firmly about the root of each plant. If you want 
to know whether the w^ork was done right, take a good 
hold of one of the leaves and pull. If the plant comes 
out of the ground, it was not set firmly enough ; if the 
leaf breaks without loosening the plant, all is right. 

Remember, however, that you cannot and must not set 
out plants when the ground is sticky. The soil is in best 
condition for the operation when only just dry enough to 
easily crumble to pieces between the fingers. Then we 
could altogether dispense with watering the plants after 
setting, especially during cool and cloudy weather. If the 
soil is dry, however, the air warm, and the sky clear, the 
application of half a gill or so of water to each plant, 
shortly after setting them out, is only a reasonable precau- 
tion and demand. It is easily and quickly done, requiring 
only a very few bucketfuls of water for the few hundred plants 
set out by the home gardener, and I strongly advise that it 
be done in all cases, except in cloudy weather or when rain 
is expected. Shading and similar precautions, serviceable 
in setting plants for the later crops, during July or August, 
are hardly ever needed in setting those for the early crop 
during May, as the soil then is usually moist and moderately 
cool, and evaporation not excessive. 

Not much in the way of after-cultivation is required — a 
little hoeing, as other crops receive it, is about all. Early 
in July the plants will be large enough for bleaching. I 
never '■ ' bank " or ' ' earth up ' ' the early crop, but prefer 
to bleach it in the simplest manner by means of a few old 
boards, 8 to 12 inches wide, such as can be found lying 
about on almost any place. There is no need of ''hand- 
ling " or tying, either. Just take two boards, and lay one 
on each side of the row (see Fig. 5) ; then take hold of 



20 



CELERY FOR PROFIT. 



the outer edges, and turn them up together and against the 
row (see Fig. 6). That is all. In a week or two you may 
begin to use the celery. The row, when boards are on. 

Fig. 5. 




Boards Ready for Setting up Against the Row. 

then looks as represented in Fig. 7, and, with boards thrown 
back, as represented in Fig. 8. As fast as the plants are 
taken up, and boards become available for use elsewhere, 
they are moved along to a row, or part of row, not yet 

Fig. 6. 




Boards in Position for Bleaching. 



blanched. Thus the same boards may be used a number 
of times in succession, and the supply of freshly-bleached 
celery kept up until the late celery is ready for the table. 



THE HOME GARDEN CROP. 



21 



If you have only narrow boards, say five or six inches 
wide, they will answer the purpose, if you set them up as 
directed, and, after a few days, draw five or six inches of 



Fig. 7. 





Row OF Celery— Boards on. 



Fig. 8. 




Row OF Celery — Boards Thrown Back. 



soil to the row from each side, replacing the boards on top 
of this. 



22 CELERY FOR PROFIT. 

The Late Home Supply. 

The late home crop should be ready in October and last 
until spring. Again, the first thing should be to make pro- 
visions for the plants. It is better, safer, cheaper to raise 
them than to buy them. Really first-class plants cannot 
often be bought, and when you do buy them, you are not 
sure whether you have a good kind or not. Sometimes in 
May one can get, at little cost, small seedling plants (the 
thinnings) from a celery grower in the vicinity, and these 
may be set out in well-prepared soil, one-half or three- 
fourths of an inch apart in the row, kept well cultivated 
and free from weeds until wanted for setting out to make 
the crop. 

My advice, however, is to buy a ten-cent packet or an 
ounce of seed, selecting Giant Pascal as first choice, 
and New Rose or some other good pink variety as second. 
These two are the very cream of the celeries, and to my 
taste about at the head of the list in quality. 

There is no difficulty about raising the plants for any one 
who knows how to prepare a garden spot for early radishes, 
early beets, lettuce, onions, etc. They all require a nice 
smooth bed of rich, mellow ground. The rows for these 
vegetables are usually about twelve inches apart. This is all 
right. Use one of the rows among the onions or radishes, 
sowing seed, at the very earliest moment after the ground' 
can be prepared (March or April), thinly in a shallow mark, 
as yoii would sow carrot seed ; cover lightly if at all, and 
firm well, either with a garden roller, if you have one, or 
with the feet. 

The seed seldom fails to germinate promptly when thus 
treated. As soon as the plants can be seen, stir the 
ground about them with a wheel-hoe or common hoe, and 
pull up all weeds as fast as they appear in the row. The 



THE HOME GARDEN CROP. 23 

plants should be thinned at the very start, and no more 
than twenty-five to fifty be allowed to remain to the foot 
of row. Water in very dry weather, but do this thoroughly 
when you do it at all. Give one good soaking that will 
last, rather than a mere sprinkling repeated every day, which 
is of no earthly use. 

Should the plants grow very rank, and especially if 
crowded, make it your business, some time in June, to 
shear or clip off about one-half of the tops. The final 
planting-out should be done during July, as early as con- 
venient, where the seasons are short, and up to August, or 
even later, in the Middle States. Prepare the plants, and 
set them out in rows exactly as directed for the early 
celery. If you have well-grown plants to spare, some neigh- 
bor will gladly take one hundred plants or so for forty or 
fifty cents. Now, we meet one difficulty not encountered 
in the other case, namely, a hot and dry season. The soil 
may be parched and dust-dry, and rains may fail us for 
weeks. Under such circumstances it is advisable to apply 
water freely to the row or rows a few hours before the 
plants are to be set, and again after they are set, and, if 
possible, to shade the plants slightly for the first few days 
after their transfer. A light sprinkling of fine hay over 
the plants will provide all the shading required and usually 
prove of material benefit. Another way of providing shade 
may be seen in Fig. 9. Drive little stakes slantingly on 
the south or southeast side of the row, a few inches from 
the line of plants, and lean boards up against them. After 
the plants have become well established, these boards can 
then be removed. Rapid growth is now to be encouraged 
in all possible ways, especially by stirring the soil frequently 
and keeping the weeds down. Applications of water, 
liquid manure, or soapsuds will be of especial service in 
this direction. A part of this late crop will probably be 



24 CELERY FOR PROFIT. 

wanted for the table fresh from the patch, although the 
early crop may well be made to hold out up to the first or 
middle of October. The bleaching process for this part 
should be begun early in September, and may be carried 
on in somewhat the same fashion as directed for early 
celery, except that the boards ought to be not less than ten 
to twelve inches wide. Earthing up, as will be described 
in next chapter, may give still better results, and is espe- 
cially desirable when the plants are intended to be left in 
open ground for use in November and December. 

The other part, intended for winter storage, requires no 
bleaching, but it should be handled or boarded up a few 



Fig. 




Shading the Plants. 

weeks before it is to be taken up, in order to make the 
plants grow upright and compact. Late in October or early 
in November — at any rate before the temperature has at 
any time gone much below the freezing point, and surely 
not below twenty-three or twenty-four degrees Fahrenheit — 
lift the plants with a spade, leaving some soil adhering to 
the roots, and set them rather closely together upon the 
floor of a moist cellar, or upon a layer of moist soil put into 
a large box. The bleaching process will then be finished 
during winter, and the plants may be used as wanted. Try 
to keep the roots moist and the tops dry ; in this, with a 



THE HOME GARDEN CROP. 25 

cool temperature and a trifle of ventilation, we have all 
the ^' secrets ' ' of keeping celery. 

During the past season I have come across an entirely 
new way of growing celery, not only for commercial pur- 
poses, but also in the home garden. You will find in this 
a most valuable and true short-cut. Look it up in the 
chapter on " The New Celery Culture." Let no reader of 
this book fail to give this simple method a trial. There, 
truly, he will find ''good results with little labor." 



III. 

WHERE THE PROFIT LIES. 
CELERY FOR THE SUMMER MARKET. 

CELERY GROWING IN KALAMAZOO. — CHANCES ELSEWHERE. — GROWING 
THE PLANTS. — HOTBEDS AND GREENHOUSES. — FLATS IN CUCUMBER 
FORCING HOUSE. — THE WATER BENCH. — PREPARING THE GROUND. — 
SETTING THE PLANTS. — CULTURE. — HANDLING. — CELERY HOE. — 
CELERY KILLERS.— METHODS OF BLANCHING. 

Don't tell me that the competition of the Hollanders 
around Kalamazoo, Mich., is so ruinous that the business 
of growing early celery elsewhere holds out no further 
promise of financial success. True, this competition is 
formidable. The methods adopted by these people and 
their success — if such it is — are based on a system of 
drudgery to which American vegetable growers will not 
readily submit, namely, on the employment of the whole 
family — father, mother, grandparents, and children of 
all ages and sizes — keeping all of them at work every 
minute of long working days. Even then their profits are 
not commensurate to their efforts, and if they were forced 
to employ able-bodied working men at full prices for their 
various operations, and then sell their crops to the 
"shippers" as they do now, it is doubtful whether the 
industry would long survive. 

The only real advantage which the Kalamazoo Hol- 
landers seem to have over growers elsewhere possessing 
suitable celery soil is the reputation of the Kalamazoo 
product ; but this is offset by serious disadvantages, espe- 
cially (i) the high tax they are compelled to pay to 
middlemen and express companies, in consequence of 

26 



WHERE THE PROFIT LIES. 27 

a wholesale production which demands the whole United 
States for a market, and calls for long-distance ship- 
ments, and (2) the great local demand for manure which 
results in prices far more favorable to the seller than to the 
buyer and user. 

Indeed, there are thousands of places in the United 
States where a much better combination of favorable 
conditions for the celery grower can be found than in 
Kalamazoo, and where the celery industry can be estab- 
lished on a safe and American basis. But let us make no 
mistake. We must not imagine that it will be safe to 
engage largely in growing " celery for profit," unless the 
conditions of soil and market are unusually favorable. 

It is true that celery will thrive on almost any kind of 
soil if only rich enough. Yet to make its culture profitable, 
we must be enabled to systematize the work, and reduce 
the labor account to a minimum by the substitution of 
horse-power and improved implements for hand labor, and, 
if possible, to surround the crop with additional safeguards 
against failure by artificial irrigation. In the first place, 
we must have soil that is easily worked, such as sandy 
muck or meadow land, clean, deep, rich, mellow, and well 
worked. There should also be a never-failing supply of 
water available for irrigation. Next we need plenty of 
good manure at moderate prices, and finally a good near 
market. 

Wherever a combination of these conditions is found, 
celery is just the crop that offers superior opportunities for 
profit, and the summer crop still more than the fall and 
winter crop. Early celery on irrigated land is produced 
more easily and cheaply than later celery. A full stand is 
easily secured, as May is much more favorable to the opera- 
tion of setting plants than July or August. Then the early 
crop is pretty much out of the way of fungous diseases ; it 



28 



CELERY FOR PROFIT. 



is easily bleached, needs no storage facilities, and usually 
brings a better price than the other. Indeed, the advantages 
seem to be pretty much on the side of the summer celery, 
at least after the plants are secured. 

Growing the Plants. 
I have already spoken of this in the preceding chapter. 
The same general principles, which govern the production 
of the plants for the home garden, are applicable also to 



Fig. io. 




Fire Hotbed. Cross-Section. 

the similar operations of the commercial grower. White 
Plume and Golden Self-blanching are the only varieties 
that can here come in consideration. The selection of 
variety, of course, must always depend on the whims and 
fashions of the local market. Golden Self-blanching, with 
its rich, golden-yellow stalks, is a favorite in some localities ; 
but it grows almost too feebly, and is too easily affected by 
disease to be serviceable for general culture. The White 
Plume must still be considered the leading early sort. 



WHERE THE PROFIT LIES. 



29 



Start the plants under glass in February. A hotbed 
with moderate bottom-heat will answer. The commercial 
grower, however, should have better facilities than just an 
ordinary manure hotbed. The least that he ought to have 
is a fire hotbed that can be started up at any time when 
wanted, even in the coldest weather. Cross- and length- 
sections of such structure are given in Figs. lo and ii. 
The bed is formed, in the simplest manner, by a double row 
of ordinary hotbed sashes, which rest on a strong frame and 
meet in the centre on a ridge plank. Underneath the soil, 
which is supported by heavy planks and strong timbers, is 

Fig. II. 




Fire Hotbed. Length-Section. 



the flue. Use fire-brick for the fireplace, and for eight or 
ten feet of the flue next to it. Terra-cotta pipe will do for 
the rest of the flue and for the chimney. 

A single hotbed sash aff"ords space enough to start twenty 
to thirty thousand plants, and will require one and one-half 
or two ounces of seed sown broadcast. After sowing, firm 
the soil well over the seed, then sift an eighth-inch layer of 
fine loam over it, and keep slightly shaded for a week or 
more, especially during bright weather. 

The soil used in all cases for growing the plants should 



30 



CELER V FOR PROFIT. 



be a fine, rich, porous loam, such as can be found in old 
gardens and old pasture lands ; or, still better, a black, 
sandy muck, that has been in cultivation for at least a num- 
ber of years. 

The possession of a greenhouse, or forcing pit, renders 
the Job of growing the plants much safer and more con- 
venient. People who shun the expense of putting up a 
regular greenhouse, but who have plenty of hotbed sashes 
on hand, may build a forcing pit, as shown in Fig. 12, and 
heat it with an ordinary, cheaply-constructed flue. Seed, 

Fig. 12. 




SCALE OF FEET 



2 4 8 10 15 

Forcing Pit, Roofed With Hotbed Sashes. 



of course, may be started in bench -beds, in same manner 
as advised for the hotbed. The use of flats, however, 
seems to me a much handier method. I always secure the 
flat boxes, in which my nearest grocer receives his canned 
meats. They are sixteen inches long, nine inches wide, 
and four inches deep, and just as if made purposely for 
starting all kinds of early vegetable plants. Fill them with 
the prepared loam to within half an inch of the top ; water 
thoroughly, sow the seed, and cover it lightly with sifted 
soil, as before directed. Then the flats may be piled up 



WHERE THE PROFIT LIES. 



31 



on top of each other in some convenient corner, or under 
the benches in the greenhouse, or in any other place where 
the atmosphere is moderately moist, and the temperature 
between 50 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Leave them thus 
for from five to seven days ; then take them down, water 
again, and pile them up as before, to be left from five to 
seven days more, or until the seeds begin to sprout, when 
the flats must be placed singly upon the benches and lightly 
shaded for a little while longer. Even if you have no 
greenhouse you can start the plants in the same way, to 




Row OF Flats in Cucumber Forcing-House. 

be ^'pricked out " in the hotbed or cold frame later on, 
thus avoiding the necessity of starting your beds so incon- 
veniently early in the season. 

Houses used for forcing cucumbers afford plenty of space 
for growing vegetable plants in flats. The benches may be 
arranged as shown in Fig. 13, which will need no further 
explanation. The cucumber plants require only narrow 
benches, and the space in front of them may just as well 
be utilized for the accommodation of a row of flats as not. 

For starting celery and other fine seeds, the ''water- 



32 CELER Y FOR PROFIT. 

bench," as described by the Ohio Agricultural Experiment 
Station, seems to me to deserve special mention. This 
bench is made with matched flooring laid in white lead, so 
as to be water-tight. The ends and sides, which should 
not be more than two inches high, are also made water- 
tight. It may be of any dimensions desired and in any 
part of the greenhouse. It may even be placed underneath 
the regular plant benches, say at least a foot below the 
bottom of the upper one, so as to give room to pass flats in 
and out easily. 

''The use of these water-benches," says Prof. W. J. 
Green, ''is to water seed just sown and young plants re- 
cently transplanted, without the application of water to 
the surface of the soil. Seeds are sown in flats having 
about two inches depth of soil ; these flats are then trans- 
ferred to the water-bench, and watered by sub-irrigation, 
which is accomplished by letting into the water-bench 
sufficient water to soak the soil in the flats quite thor- 
oughly, but not enough to make it mortar-like or pasty. 
Small plants are transplanted into flats and treated in the 
same manner. 

" The flats in which seeds are sown may be kept in the 
lower water-bench until the seeds germinate and the young 
plants appear, but if kept in a dark place much longer than 
this, injury would, of course, result. In an upper water- 
bench young plants may be kept as long as desired, and 
watered by sub-irrigation as often as need be. This 
method of watering is satisfactory and saves labor. Not 
only can the soil be thoroughly and evenly watered in this 
manner, but there is no danger of washing out seed or of 
knocking over young plants." 

When the young seedlings are about one and a half 
inches high, they are ready for "pricking out" in other 
flats. The process has already been described in Chapter 



WHERE THE PROFIT LIES. 33 

II, and will need no repetition. Make the rows three 
inches apart, and set the plants in them one-half inch 
apart. 

The proper '' hardening off," previous to the final trans- 
fer of the plants to open ground, should never be neg- 
lected. It is a matter of some importance. Set the flats 
into an open cold frame, or into some sheltered spot out- 
doors for a week or so, and by the end of that time they 
will be ready for setting out. 

Setting the Plants. 

The first step in the outdoor operations is the prepara- 
tion of the ground. This we expect to be already rich and 
well supplied with organic matter. Still, we can safely put 
on additional broadcast dressings of good compost, and 
they should be heavy, say from fifty tons upward per acre, 
if we depend on them for making the crop. Old cow 
manure is considered to be a most excellent fertilizer for 
celery. I like broadcast application of the barnyard 
manure much better than putting it in a furrow right 
under the row, as the roots of the plant go quite a way in 
search for food, and the latter will not be out of reach of 
the plants, even if distributed all over the ground. 

Then comes plowing. In the mellow soil, which alone 
we consider suited to ''celery growing for profit," this is 
an easy job. Yet all possible pains should be taken to 
have it well done. Harrowing comes next. Going over 
the ground a few times with a smoothing harrow, each 
time in a different direction, will probably be sufficient. 
At any rate, make the ground smooth and even. Then 
mark out the rows, four feet apart if the plants are to be 
bleached by earthing, or three feet apart if by boards. In 
the latter case even less distance between the rows would 
answer. The marks need not be deep nor wide. Any 
3 



34 CELERY FOR PROFIT. 

ordinary one-horse corn marker, which marks out three or 
four rows at a time, may be used. By all means, however, 
have the rows straight and uniform. 

Now, also, is the time to apply commercial fertilizers, 
especially the so-called high-grade, special vegetable ma- 
nures, if their use is desired either to make up for a 
deficiency in the applications of compost, or to heighten 
the general effect. I like to use them any way, or in their 
place ashes, bone meal, dried blood, cotton-seed meal, 
sulphate of potash, etc. The complete mixed fertilizers, 
containing about four or five per cent, nitrogen, eight to 
ten per cent, phosphoric acid, and six to eight per cent, 
potash, may be scattered in a wide strip over each row, at 
the rate of looo to 2000 pounds. Most of the other sub- 
stances named had better be put on broadcast after the 
first harrowing, and mixed with the soil by the subsequent 
harrowings, or they may be drilled in with the fertilizer 
attachment of our ordinary grain drills, and the ground 
marked out afterward. 

In case we have not the full quantity of stable compost 
required for broadcast application, we will have to adopt 
another course. Plow and harrow the land as advised ; 
then oj^en up deep furrows, going back and forth in the 
same place and letting the plow down as far as practicable ; 
next fill these furrows or trenches half full of the compost, 
and mix this well with soil, filling the trenches at last 
almost to the top. How to do this mixing and refilling in 
the most convenient manner is yet an open question with 
me. Possibly one of the easiest ways is to go along in 
each furrow with an ordinary horse cultivator. In a small 
way it can be done with hoe and rake ; but in whatever 
way done, I would aim to have the soil appear as shown in 
Fig. 14. The place where the plants are to be set should 
form no more than the merest suggestion of depression in 



WHERE THE PROFIT LIES. 35 

the general surface, thus insuring safety to plants from the 
danger of being buried in mud and sediment during heavy 
rains. 

Just as soon as the ground is ready to receive the plants 
(and of course the plants ready to go out) — say. along in 
May — the work should proceed without unnecessary delay. 
Take the flats to the field; pull up the plants; arrange 
them in bundles of convenient size, and trim as advised 
and illustrated in Chapter II (see Fig. 3, p. 17). To do 
the work of setting the plants expeditiously, you want men, 
young or old, that are used to handling plants to set them, 
and a young boy to distribute the plants ahead of the 
planters as fast as they need them. Let each planter have 




Cross-Section of Rows. 

a dibber, such as shown in Fig. 4 (page 18), and see that 
he takes pains to firm the soil well around the roots of the 
plants. The latter should stand five or six inches apart in 
the rows. On the whole, it is an easy matter for people 
accustomed to such work to set out the plants in this kind 
of soil, and a few good men will soon set an acre. Instead 
of marking out the rows the plants may be set along a 
garden line stretched tightly directly over the manure- 
filled furrows. 

Culture, Handling, and Bleaching. 
What we now desire is rapid, thrifty growth. This is 
dependent not only on the amount of plant food (with 
moderate moisture) placed in reach of the roots, but also 



36 CELERY FOR PROFIT. 

on its availability. Frequent stirring of the soil aids the 
plants to get hold of their food. It gives life to soil and 
plant, and promotes thrift and luxuriance. The same cul- 
tivation and general treatment required for all other garden 
crops is needed. I think highly of the Planet Jr. horse- 
hoe. Use the narrow blades. Begin this operation a few- 
days after the plants are planted out. Go back and forth 
in each space, and quite close to the right-hand row each 
time, thus stirring the soil close up to the plants. Repeat 
often ; it cannot well be overdone. 

In case a good market is available for them, a crop of 
radishes, or of cabbage or cauliflower plants may be grown 



Fig. 



1^1^/''%'^ cn4lVV. APi>^>^^' 




Celery After Handling. 



between the rows of celery. You can sow two or three 
rows of these vegetables in each space with the garden seed- 
drill, and cultivate with hand wheel-hoes. The radishes 
and cabbage plants, etc., will be off in time to make room 
for working the celery when that work is needed. Usuall}^, 
however, it will be found preferable to leave the spaces 
between the celery rows vacant, thus preventing all inter- 
ference with thorough and convenient work in cultivating 
the celery crop. 

The manipulation known as 'Miandling" formerly con- 
sumed much time and labor. It was usually performed by 



WHERE THE PROFIT LIES. 



37 



packing some soil around the plant with one hand while 
the other held the stalks closely together. Amateurs and 
family gardeners often secured the same result by winding 
cotton yarn once around each plant. Fig. 15 will show 
you how the plants appear when soil is packed about them 

Fig. 16. 




Celeky After Tying. 

by hand, while Fig. 16 shows the plants after they are tied. 
Both methods are laborious and cumbersome, and must 
yield to simpler ways when we grow celery for profit. 

Two years ago I saw for the first time the tool illustrated 
in Fig. 17, in use on Mr. John F. White's celery farm near 
Mount Morris, N. Y. This is simply an ordinary old hoe 



Fig 




Celery Hoe. 



with blade enlarged by riveting to it a piece of a worn- 
out crosscut saw, eighteen inches long. Two men, each 
one provided with one of these hoes, take one row. One 
goes on one side, the other on the other side. Each one 
puts his hoe across the row, setting the blade down about 
midway between it and the next row, and then drawing 



38 CELERY FOR PROFIT. 

the soil toward the plants, under the foliage and against 
the stalks, and as this is done from both sides, the plants 
are straightened up and all the stalks of each held closely 
together by the soil piled up against them. This is done 
at a rather early stage of the plants' growth, perhaps four 
or five weeks after they are set in open ground, or some 
time in June, for this early crop. It teaches plants while 
yet young to lead an "upright " life. 

The manufacturers of the Planet Jr. horse-hoe are now 
making an attachment to that implement for hilling celery 
in two styles, the single and double. The single celery 
hiller, they say, "works but one side at a time, and throws 
harder and higher than the double, and is adapted to all 
width rows, from two feet to ten. It also has the leaf lifter 
and lever expander. It is the more satisfactory for the last 
and highest hilling, and large growers need both. The 
single machine is also often used where the rows are so close 
together that there is not enough earth to complete hilling 
'ip both rows at once. The single hiller is then used to hill 
very high every other row, taking away most of the earth 
from the alternate rows. Then when the blanched row is 
marketed it is again used to hill up the remaining row. It 
is also used to bank up the celery when storing in trenches 
for winter. ' ' 

For the double machine, the following points are claimed : 
" It hills all rows from the first to the last time, when not 
planted over four and one-half feet apart. In the first hill- 
ing the detachable leaf guards are invaluable, enabling the 
operator to throw up the earth beneath all the leaves, so 
close as to make the Jirsf '^ hand/i?jg'' very easy. Slotted 
knees at the rear make the vertical adjustment, while the 
patent lever expander is a simple and delightful method of 
adjustment to width." 

It is shown in Fig. i8. There may be other implements 



WHERE THE PROFIT LIES. 39 

designed to accomplish the same object and deserving to be 
tested. At any rate we must try to do this work in a more 
expeditious and cheaper way than by the old plan of 
''handling" on hands and knees. 

The varieties which we have planted for this early crop 
are said to be self-blanching. Still they will need some 
manipulation, when planted in this way, in order to pro- 
duce a nice, salable article, just the same as if we had 
planted other kinds, for instance, blanching by boards, 
as described in Chapter II, and illustrated by Figs. 5, 6, 7, 
and 8. It is often claimed that celery, when blanched by 

Fig. iS. 




Planet, Jr. Celery Hillek. 



boards, is of inferior quality. I have never found much 
difference between stalks blanched by boards or by earth- 
ing up. Quality, I think, depends on variety, and still 
more on rapid growth consequent upon high culture. I 
have no difficulty in producing celery of the very best 
quality, sweet as nutmeats and brittle as glass, by means of 
board-blanching. 

By far the largest part of all celery growai for market is 
yet blanched by earthing up. A furrow is first thrown 
from each side against the "handled " plants with a one- 
horse plow, the earth then drawn further up to them with 



40 



CELERY FOR PROFIT. 



a hoe, and the earthing up finished with spade or shovel. 
The plants then appear as shown in Fig. 19. 



Fig. ig. 




Celery after Earthing Up. 



This old way, however, is again too cumbersome, too 
laborious, too expensive. We must find cheaper ways of 
accomplishing the same object, and I believe it can be 



Fig. 20. 




Machine for Hilling Celery. 



done well enough for all practical purposes by means of a 
plow, winged shovel-plow, the Planet Jr. celery hiller, or 
of other tools designed for the same purpose. Fig. 20 



WHERE THE PROFIT LIES. 



41 



represents a machine of this kind recently patented by 
Maurice M. Ranney, of Michigan. I have not had a 
chance to try it. Perhaps it will fill the bill ; at least I 
hope so, for the work must be done in some such way if 
we desire to secure the best financial success in celery 
growing. 

The proper time for putting on the boards, or earthing 
up the rows, is when the plants have nearly reached suit^ 



Fig. 21. 



13 Mf 




Methods of Blanching. 

a, with Tiles ; b, with Paper ; c, with Extension Bleachers. 



able size for market. Ten or fifteen days of good growing 
weather will then fit them for use or sale. 

There are still other methods of blanching celery. I 
have tried all I could hear of, but find none of them cheap 
or satisfactory enough for universal use. This is the case 
with blanching by means of standing a three-inch tile over 
each plant, although it does the work quite well. Some 
years ago I had some ''extension " tiles made for the very 



42 CELERY FOR PROFIT. 

purpose of blanching celery. They are shaped like flower- 
pots without bottom, and fit nicely upon one another. But 
they are altogether too expensive, and inconvenient to 
store and handle. I have given up the idea entirely. Then 
there is the method of blanching by paper. Ordinary 
brown wrapping paper will do very well. Cut pieces about 
twelve by eight or nine inches, and wrap one firmly around 
each plant, tying with string. Plants thus treated will 
blanch moderately well in the usual time. Fig. 21 illus- 
trates these various methods of blanching ; but I give them 
more for the sake of information, than in the expectation 
that the celery grower ''for profit" will make practical 
use of them. 

By whatever means the early celery is grown and 
blanched, it should be put on the market without much 
loss of time. Earliest in market usually means most money 
in pocket. There is where the profit lies. 



IV. 

A CROP TO FILL IN. 

CELERY FOR THE FALL AND WINTER MARKET. 

GROWING THE PLANTS. — PACKING PLANTS FOR SHIPPING. — SETTING 
THE PLANTS. — UNITED STATES WEATHER SIGNALS. — CULTURE. — 
HANDLING. — BLANCHING. 

The late celery, even if it should be less profitable than 
the early crop, is yet a very handy one. Whenever a piece 
of ground becomes vacant in July or August, or even in 
September further south, and the market gardener knows 
no other crop to plant for profit, celery is the one he most 
likely will select. Often the gardener must choose between 
raising celery or letting the land lie idle for the rest of the 
season. Late celery, in brief, is a crop that gives an oppor- 
tunity for raising a second paying crop after early peas, 
early beets, early potatoes, bunching or pickling onions, 
early cabbage, strawberries, even early celery, and perhaps 
other crops, and for putting one's own and one's hired 
men's labor to good use, when otherwise there might not 
be enough to do for all hands. The crop, indeed, comes 
very handy for '' filling in." 

Growing the Plants. 
First get the seed. Select the variety that finds most favor 
with your customers or in your available markets. Golden 
Heart (Half Dwarf) is now more generally grown than 
any other. Giant Pascal, I think, would "take" in any 
market, and Boston Market is a favorite in some localities. 
Procure the seed early, and test it to be sure that it will 
germinate promptly. A pound of seed should give you 
250,000 plants. Possibly twice that number might be 

43 



44 CELERY FOR PROFIT. 

raised from it. To make sure of a good stand, however, 
it is advisable to sow a pound on about 5000 feet of row, 
or one ounce on 300 feet of row. Thus you may calcu- 
late to get at least 150,000 good plants from the one pound, 
or almost 10,000 from the one ounce of seed. Heroic thin- 
ning in the first stages of the plants' growth will be re- 
quired even then. 

To serve as a plant-bed, select the nicest, richest, mel- 
lowest, best-protected spot you have, and, if shaded during a 
small part of the day, all the better, but the exposure should 
be south or southeast, so that the patch will be ready for 
operation as early as possible in spring. A sandy muck or 
mould, or any loam that is abundantly supplied with humus, 
is just the thing. To fit it best for the purpose, it may be 
deeply plowed and laid off in narrow beds in autumn. 
Early in spring apply a good top-dressing of poultry man- 
ure and of ashes, or, if you do not have or cannot get these 
materials, of any other rich and fine manure. I also like 
to put on some high-grade complete commercial fertilizer, 
say at the rate of 1500 to 2000 pounds per acre. It takes 
but a small spot for a thousand plants, and we can well 
afford to be extremely liberal with plant foods. The soil 
should be made almost excessively rich to give the best 
results. We need hardly fear to overdo this. 

Next, let the soil be well and deeply worked up ; and, 
after it has been made smooth with the harrow, and firmed 
with the roller or otherwise, it is ready to receive the seed. 
You can use the garden seed-drill, but you must try to put 
the seed down very shallow and cover but lightly ; or, you 
may sow by hand in shallow marks ; then draw a fine steel 
rake along lengthwise over each row, and then again firm 
the soil with a garden roller. I usually sow by hand, and 
without covering the seed, finn the soil over the seed by 
walking heel-to-toe fashion over every row. 



A CROP TO FILL IN. 45 

Ordinarily I put in the seed for the later or main crop 
about April ist to 15th. If the seed was good, and the 
work properly done, the young plants will be pretty sure to 
make their appearance in about two weeks after sowing. 
To make this all the surer, a light sprinkling of fine hay or 
similar material might be put over the patch after seed is 
sown, to be again taken off as soon as the young plants have 
come up. Such covering is quite serviceable in preventing 
evaporation, and in keeping the surface continuously moist, 
but I have never found it absolutely necessary. The ground 
rarely gets so thoroughly dried out at this season as to pre- 
vent the prompt germination of good seed planted in 
freshly-stirred soil, and well firmed afterward. 

Just as soon as you see the first sign of plant-life in the 
rows, begin work with the hand wheel-hoe. Any kind or 
style, either straddling the row, or going between, if other- 
wise it does good work, will do. Keep the soil well stirred 
all the time while the plants are in the plant-bed, clear up 
to the rows, and do not be afraid to gauge into the plants, 
and thin them quite thoroughly where they are crowded. 
Follow this up with the hand-weeder, cutting down the 
row of plants to a narrow line, at the same time pulling 
out all weeds, and some celery plants, too, if they get too 
thick. I like to have them stand at least one-quarter inch 
apart, or from twenty-five to fifty plants to the foot of row 

This treatment is sure to give you strong, stocky plants 
by the time they are wanted for setting out, especially if 
you can give the rows a good soaking once or twice in dry 
weather. As an extra help in producing thrifty growth, 
and preserving moisture in the soil, light applications of 
nitrate of soda may be given. I find them very effective, 
and almost indispensable. Sow it broadcast as you would 
wheat, at the rate of a pound or more to the square rod 
each time, making the first application soon after the seed 



46 



CELER V FOR PROFIT. 



is sown, and another a few weeks later. In the absence of 
nitrate of soda, pulverized saltpetre, in half the quantity, 
may answer. Should the plants show a tendency to grow 
up tall and spindling, do not hesitate to shear, clip, or cut 
off at least one half of their tops. 

Good plants are thus grown quite cheaply, and a good 
trade in them may be worked up. In fact, this plant trade 
is a side issue that can often be made more remunerative 
than growing celery for market. There is money in celery 
plants, even if you have to sell them at $1.50 per 1000. 
Packed in cheap baskets, they can easily and safely be 
shipped long distances. Simply put a layer of sphagnum 

Fig. 22. 




Celery Plants Packed for Shipping. 



moss into the bottom of the basket, put in the plants, 
standing upright and surrounded by the moist moss. This 
is the simplest way of packing celery plants for shipment. 
This method you find illustrated in Fig. 22. 



Setting the Plants. 
The general principles ruling the process of setting out 
the plants for the summer crop are also applicable in this 
case. The soil should be enriched and prepared, as already 
advised in Chapter III. In my latitude I like to do this 
work just as soon as the first crop is cleared off and the 



A CROP TO FILL IN. 47 

land becomes available, even should this be as early as last 
week in June; but any time in July will do for the winter 
crop. August and September are the months for this work, 
as we proceed further south. 

The details of the process of setting out the plants are 
the same as described for the summer crop. With frequent 
rains at this time the operation is just as easy and safe. 
Ordinarily., however, we have just then much sunshine and 
dry soil. If the soil is a moist muck or loam, our success 
will be reasonably certain if we take pains to plant shortly 
after the ground has been worked, and, consequently, is 
still moist clear to the surface. With chances of irrigation 
well utilized, we have nothing to fear any way. Without 
them, however, we may find it a difficult task to set celery 
plants, no matter how good and well-rooted they may be, 
into hot and dust-dry ground. I would then advise to 
water the rows a few hours or a half day before planting 
time, even if it has to be done with ordinary garden 
sprinklers. Let the water soak well into the ground right 
in line where the plants are to stand. Be sure that the 
plants, when out of the ground, are not exposed to air and 
sun any more than is absolutely unavoidable. Let each 
bundle of plants, as soon as properly prepared and trimmed, 
be dipped in water, or the roots in a puddle of thin 
mud, and then planted as speedily as possible. If hot and 
dry weather continues, shade the plants set out by scatter- 
ing a little fine hay over them. 

I do not usually advise postponing the job of setting out 
plants in a dry time waiting for rain. It is much better to 
make an extra effort to get water. On the other hand, I 
like it well enough to have a cloudy day for the work, and 
rain soon following after. People who have access to a 
daily paper, or a chance to watch the flag and whistle sig- 
nals employed by the United States Weather Bureau, have 



48 



CELER V FOR PROFIT. 



this great advantage, that they can get reasonably reliable 
information about next day's weather. When I have a lot of 
plants to set out, I watch the weather forecasts in my daily 
paper quite closely. Should cloudy weather or rain be an- 
nounced for the next day, I make the best use of my time, 
and of all the forces available, and let the plants go into 
the ground as rapidly as possible, even if we have to keep 
at it until after nightfall. 

The flag signals relating to this phase of the weather are 
given by the display of one of three square flags. One of 
them is white, and indicates clear or fair weather; one is 
blue, and indicates rain or snow ; one white and blue, and 
indicates local rains. Their general appearance is illus- 







Fig. 23. 








::n;;,r:^ 




WHITE 


'&am. 


CHANGE OR FAIR 




RAIN OR SNOW 




LOCAL RAINS 



United States Weather Flags. 



trated in Fig. 23. A black triangular flag refers to the 
temperature, indicating warmer weather when placed above 
one of the flags already described, and colder weather 
when placed below it. A white flag with black square in 
centre announces the approach of a sudden cold wave. 

Of the whistle signals there is at first a long blast of 
from fifteen to twenty seconds' duration. This is intended 
simply to attract the attention of the observer. Following 
this, one long blast (four to six seconds) indicates fair 
weather, two long blasts indicate rain or snow, and three 
long blasts local rains. The short blasts refer to the tem- 
perature, namely, one blast meaning a higher temperature, 



A CROP TO FILL IN. 49 

two blasts a lower temperature, and three blasts the ap- 
proach of a cold wave. 

Culture, Handling, and Bleaching. 

Little is here to be said about these operations, since 
they are the same as described for the summer crop. You 
may look the directions up in Chapter III, if you wish. 
There is one exception, however. The winter celery need 
not and should not be much blanched before it is put into 
storage. Any part of the late crop that has been properly 
earthed up, and is in fit condition for market, should be 
disposed of as soon as convenient. Blanching is the first 
step toward decay. Celery that by *' handling" or slight 
hilling has been made to grow upright and compact, will 
have plenty of chance to bleach during winter, and soon 
be all right for putting on the market. 

In explanation of a general principle I have to add that 
what we call blanching or bleaching is not real bleaching — 
not a change of green to white — but only the production 
of new growth, which remains white in the absence of 
light. This also explains why early celery can be 
''bleached" in ten days or two weeks, while the perfect 
bleaching of late celery may require four or six weeks. In 
one case the growth is rapid, in the other comparatively 
slow. 



V. 

THE NEW CELERY CULTURE. 
A NEW WAY PROMISING LARGE PROFITS. 

INDISPENSABLE REQUISITES, — THE NEW METHOD IN THE HOME GARDEN. 
— IN THE MARKET GARDEN. — A CELERY SHED. 

The idea of growing celery so closely together that it 
will blanch under its own shade is not exactly a new one. 
I have repeatedly come across it in the agrictiltiiral press in 
years past. Prior to the introduction of the White Plume 
celery, little attention was paid to the plan, for the just 
reason that there was no variety in existence well suited 
for it. Then came the White Plume, and later the Golden 
Self-blanching, and they have made " the new celery 
culture" a possibility, and to some extent a success. 

I have given this new plan a pretty good test, at least 
for one season, and think it has its uses, and under the 
right conditions can be made exceedingly profitable. 

The two conditions, without which success cannot be 
expected, or at least made a dead certainty, are (i) plenty 
of plant foods, and (2) plenty of water. If we wish to 
grow on one acre the same amount of stuff that we have 
been in the habit of growing on four or five, it stands to 
reason that we must also put upon the one acre the same 
quantities of manure that we used to put on the four or five. 
In short, there is no use trying to raise celery on the new 
intensely intensive plan on any soil save that which is or 
can be made excessively rich. Put all the rich, well-rotted 
compost on the land that you can plow under or fork in. 
If you make use of commercial fertilizers, use them at the 
rate of several tons per acre. Heavy dressings of wood- 

50 



THE NE W CELER V CUL TURE. 51 

ashes, dried blood, fish compost, etc., will come acceptable. 
The wonderful amount of celery that this method enables 
us to raise on a piece of land justifies the most lavish use 
of fertilizing materials. 

We can also afford to incur quite a considerable expense 
for the sake of making a water supply — a stream, a pond, 
a canal, wells, cisterns, or whatever it may be — available 
for irrigating our celery grounds. Water we must have. 
The enormous growth of closely-planted celery which 
covers the ground with a dense mass of foliage one to two 
and more feet high, pumps up, consumes, and evaporates 
an astonishingly vast amount of moisture. The summer 
rains are seldom copious enough to supply one-half of the 
water needed, and unless water is given by artificial means, 
the soil will appear dry even shortly after a moderate rain. 

The home gardener may well depend on buckets and 
garden sprinklers for the purpose of transporting the water 
needed for his few hundred plants, and brought from cis- 
tern, well, washtub, creek, or pond. But whoever has to 
furnish the liquid element for even a single thousand plants 
in this manner will most likely get tired of carrying buck- 
ets before the season is half gone. 

The New Culture in the Home Garden. 
I cannot be too emphatic in my advice to the home 
grower. By all means set out two hundred or three hun- 
dred White Plume plants in your richest and best-manured 
and best-prepared ground. Set them in short rows, ten 
inches apart, and the plants five inches apart in the rows. 
If you have more than eight rows, it may be well to leave 
the central row vacant in order to give you a better chance* 
to reach all the parts of the patch with the watering-buckets 
and cans. Fig. 24 gives a glimpse at the home garden 
patch. There are ten rows, each twelve feet long, containing 



52 CELERY FOR PROFIT. 

in the aggregate about two hundred and seventy-five plants. 
To make the patch real snug, and to bleach the outside rows 
all the better, each bed is enclosed by boards eight to 
twelve inches wide and as long as necessary, set up on edge 
as shown, and held in position by pegs or little stakes. 
This is a pretty easy and simple way of raising all the celery 
you may want from middle of July to March or April. 
Along in May, or early in June, plant a patch of White 
Plume, with perhaps some Golden Self-blanching for varia- 
tion and for trial. Keep the ground between the plants 
well stirred for a few weeks. Usually there is no need of 
applying water at this early stage. Soon the plants will 

Fig. 24. 




The New Celery Culture in the Home Garden. 

cover the ground and choke out most of the weed-growth. 
I have made a sure thing still surer by putting a mulch of 
fine old compost several inches deep between the rows of 
plants within a week or two after they were set out. 

When the plants begin to cover the ground, the time for 
water applications has come. Continued or very heavy 
rains may for a while relieve you of the task ; but do not 
let light rains or short showers interfere. Give the ground 
a thorough soaking once every five to ten days, according 
to the weather. Washing-suds and similar liquids are of 
especial benefit. Make all such applications directly to 
the ground between the rows, flooding rather than sprink- 



THE NE W CELER Y CUL TURE. 53 

ling. Overhead watering will not be necessary. You will 
do no harm even if you should use from twelve to fifteen 
buckets of water for the patch shown in Fig. 24 at a time. 
By the first of August or sooner the crop should begin to be 
available for the table, and the two hundred and seventy- 
five plants will give a full supply to a good-sized family 
until late fall. 

To provide for a supply from that time on until pretty 
well toward spring, set another similar patch in early July 
or thereabouts, on similarly-prepared ground, and at simi- 
lar distances, selecting Giant Pascal, New Rose, or other 
good non-bleaching sorts. A few plants may again be of 
the White Plume or Golden Self-blanching varieties, in 
order to give you an immediately available supply to last 

Fig. 25. 




Newly-set Plants Shaded by Mulch of Fine Hay. 

until the main part has become more thoroughly blanched 
in winter storage. 

In setting out the plants during the usual dry weather of 
this period, use the precautions mentioned in the previous 
chapter. As but part of a square rod is required for such 
a patch, however, it is not a great thing to apply water 
enough, previous to setting the plants, to thoroughly 
moisten the soil and make the operation of planting a suc- 
cess, especially if a little fine hay is sprinkled over the 
plants afterwaid, as shown in Fig. 25. With plants crowded 
together as closely as required by the '' new celery culture," 
a little hay goes a great way. 

The late crop makes the bulk of its growth during a 



54 CELERY FOR PROFIT. 

period of usually more abundant rainfall ; artificial water- 
ing, therefore, is less imperative and less indispensable, or- 
dinarily, than for the summer crop. Still there will be 
times when water may be needed, and in most cases an 
occasional soaking given to the ground will prove quite 
beneficial. 

The New Culture in the Market Garden. 
The experiments heretofore made in this line are neither 
many nor extensive, and there are a number of points con- 
cerning this branch of the business yet needing further 

Fig. 26. 



m 



Glimpse at Celery Patch Grown on the New Plan. 

investigation and tests. One of these points is the proper 
distance between the plants. Some writers recommend to 
set them seven by seven inches apart. I have tried various 
distances. In my early patch, last season, the plants stood 
six inches apart, with rows a foot apart ; in my late patch 
they were planted seven by seven inches apart. Hereafter 
I shall adopt a middle course, make the rows ten inches 
apart, and set one plant to each five inches of row. This 
puts the plants as close as White Plume should stand, in 
order to bleach well without further manipulation, and yet 
gives us a better chance to mark out the ground, set the 



THE NE W CELER Y CUL TURE. 



55 



plants, and run the hand wheel-hoe through the patch, than 
when we plant seven inches apart each way. In short, 
five by ten is much more convenient, and, I think, just 
as effective. For marking out the ground you can use any 
ordinary garden marker with teeth ten inches apart, going 
over the ground both ways. Then, following the rows, set 
a plant in each cross-mark, and one between. 

Fig. 26 gives us a glimpse at a celery field of this kind, 

Fig. 27. 




Celery Shed. 



with plants just making good growth. I can assure you 
that it is a sight worth seeing. You will get some idea, 
too, of the amount of stuff growing on a piece of ground, 
when you come to figure out the number of plants required 
to set an acre — more than 120,000. 

Celery likes a reasonable amount of light. It will not 
thrive in shade, and especially not in the shade of trees, as 
their roots will consume a part of the plant-food which the 



56 CELERY FOR PROFIT. 

celery needs for strong growth. On the other hand, I 
find that some little shade in hot weather is quite beneficial 
and promotes rapid growth. In view of the wonderful 
possibilities of a piece of land properly treated when 
planted to celery on the new plan, I am quite confident 
that it could be made an exceedingly profitable investment 
to fit an otherwise judiciously selected piece of ground, in 
the manner shown in Fig. 27. The idea is simply to pro- 
vide slight shading. For this purpose posts in lines are 
set, to stand eight or nine feet above the surface of the 
ground, and connected with scantlings, across which, in 
turn, are placed slats or poles. The ground underneath 
can be worked and planted in the manner described for 
the new culture, and the plants will be safe from excessive 
sun-heat, and consequently from some of the diseases that 
often attack the exposed plants in the hot season. 



VI. 



THE IRRIGATION PROBLEM. 
MAKING SUCCESS A CERTAINTY. 

AN IRRIGATED FIELD. — IRRIGATION BY BOX DITCH. — TILE LINES AS 
WATER DISTRIBUTORS. — WATERING BY HOSE. 

Nowhere have I seen a better solution of the irrigation 
problem than on the celery fields near Mount Morris, New 
York, already mentioned in this work. Fig. 28 represents 
a plan of this tract of muck land. The main ditch, which 
is cut hear the foot of the hill on almost a dead level, can 

Fig. 28. 




Plan of Irrigated Field. 



be filled from the little mountain stream rushing by at the 
upper corner. Cross ditches connect this main ditch with 
a parallel ditch, which is dug at the foot of this tract and 
serves as an outlet. When the patch needs watering, the 
brook is turned into the main ditch, and the latter allowed 
to fill up. The water seems to percolate quite easily 

57 



68 CELERY FOR PROFIT. 

through this sandy muck, and in a day's time the whole 
strip next to the head ditch, i i i i, will be pretty well 
soaked through. Then by opening flood-gates the water 
is allowed to fill the first section of each cross ditch, 
and these in their turn will soak up the next lower strip, 
2 2 2 2. Thus continuing, the whole tract is thoroughly 
soaked up in the course of a few days. Here celery and 
other garden crops grow luxuriantly. 

Undoubtedly there are many other places where similar 
opportunities for sub-earth soaking exist, and wherever 
found they should be practically utilized, as they double 
and treble the crops and the value of the land. 

Fig. 29, 



^^ ^j^^^^^^^g^.. 






Irrigation by Box Ditch. 

Ordinary loams and ordinary sub-soils, however, do not 
let the water pass through thus easily and freely. To dis- 
tribute the water from a higher source of supply — a ditch, 
a canal, a pond, a brook, or stream — we must usually resort 
to surface irrigation. If we conduct the water to the 
highest part of a field with slight slope, we can then turn 
it into shallow furrows made with a hoe or hand plow be- 
tween the rows, six or eight feet apart, and let it flow along 
in one after another, until the corresponding strip has been 
given a thorough watering or soaking. 



THE IRKIGATION PROBLEM. 



59 



A box ditch, as shown in Fig. 29, may be utilized as a 
conductor of the main supply to the highest part of the 
field, or sometimes a simple furrow or ordinary shallow ditch 
may answer the same purpose. 

A superior way of distributing the water from the main 
supply to all parts of the field is by means of tile lines 
laid eight to ten inches deep, and as closely together as 
needed to make the water reach to the middle between 
these lines, say eight or ten feet apart. Fig. 30 shows the 
arrangement of this style of sub-irrigation in the ^'new 
celery culture." Each line should be on a dead level. 

If the soil is tenacious, offering some resistance to the 



Fig. 30. 




Tile Lines as Water Distributors. 



free capillary passage of water, or liable to become pasty, or 
if it be desired to arrange the tiles only for the use of one 
crop and at least expense, I would lay the lines more 
closely together on the surface, and only barely covered, 
and leave the row just over them vacant. This arrange- 
ment is made plain in Fig. 31. 

Cheap home-made hose may also be utilized for dis- 
tributing the water over the area to be irrigated. If this 
area is a patch planted on '* the new culture," however, it 
may be well to understand at the beginning that there is 
little chance to walk through, or work in, an unbroken 



60 



CELER V FOR PROFIT. 



planting. At suitable distances apart one or more rows 
should be left vacant to serve as a path for the person 
carrying the hose. 

A short time ago, Mr. H. A. March, of Washington, 
gave me the following details of his irrigating plant : — 

^' We have a never-failing spring of water situated about 
twenty feet higher than any of our tillable land. This 
water is brought down in open troughs to the tanks on the 
upper side of the field to be irrigated, holding 20,000 
gallons each. We turn the water into the tanks in the 
heat of the day, and the sun warms it up to about 60° 
Fahrenheit. 




Tile Lines Near the Surface as Water Distributors. 



''To distribute the water, we use a hose made from 
twelve-ounce duck. We take a piece thirty feet long, 
and cut it lengthwise into three pieces, which makes 
ninety feet of hose about two and a-half inches in diam- 
eter. We fetch the edges together, double once over, and 
with a sewing-machine sew through the four thicknesses 
twice, which makes a hose that will stand a six or eight- 
foot pressure. To make it waterproof, we use five gallons 
of boiled linseed-oil with half a gallon of pine tar, 
melted together. Place the hose in a wash-tub, turn on 
the oil hot (say 160°), and saturate the cloth well with the 
mixture. Now, with a clothes- wringer run the hose through 



THE IRRIGATION PROBLEM. 61 

with the wringer screwed down rather tight, and it is ready 
to be hung up to dry. A little pains must be taken to 
blow through it to keep it from sticking together as it 
dries. I use an elder-sprout about a foot long with the 
pith punched out. Tie a string around one end of the 
hose and gather the other end around the tube and fill it 
with wind, then hang it on a line and it will dry in a few 
days and be ready for use. It will last five or six years. 

^* To join the ends, we use a tin tube two and a-half 
inches in diameter by one foot long. It is kept tied to one 
£nd of the hose all the time. To connect them, draw the 
open end of the hose over the tube of the next joint and 
tie it securely. When ready to irrigate, we take the hose 
in sections convenient to carry, lay it from our tanks to the 
ihird row from the outside and down this row to the end 
of the field. Then the water is turned on. 

^' To connect the hose with the tank, we take a hard- 
wood stick fifteen inches long, bore a two-inch hole 
through it, and with a hot iron burn it out smooth on 
the inside, work one end down until it will fit into the end 
of the hose next the tank and tie it securely; then work 
the other end down so that it will fit tightly into a two- 
and-a-half-inch hole. With a two-and-a-half-inch auger 
bore a hole in the tank on the side next the field you wish 
to water, two inches up from the bottom — then no sediment 
or dirt will wash into your hose. Push the plug into the 
hole, with a mallet give it a few gentle taps, and the work 
is done. We now have our water running, and it can be 
carried to any part of the field for any crop that needs it. 

'* To prepare for setting out celery plants in a rather dry 
time, we take the end of the hose in hand, and fill the row 
the hose is in and the two on each side of it about half full 
of water, working backward to the end of our first joint 
(thirty feet) ; then we cast the first joint oif and go on in 



62 CELER V FOR PROFIT. 

the same way until the five rows are watered. We have a 
two-and-a-half-inch plug ready to fit the hole in the tank, 
pull out our connection-tube and drive in the plug until 
the hose is again laid where wanted. A man in this way 
will water three or four acres in a day. With a Planet 
Jr. cultivator and one horse we level the ridges into the 
furrows, then with a light drag make the whole surface 
smooth and level. In a few hours the water soaks up 
through the dry earth and leaves a nice moist soil, that 
will not bake, to set our plants in, with plenty of moisture 
and good manure at the roots, where it is most needed. 
Not one in a thousand plants will die, and hardly even 
wilt, in the hottest sun. 

'' As the plants get larger we use the Planet Jr. to throw 
a little soil to them, and that is all the handling we give. 
When they have grown to six or seven inches, they con- 
sume water very fast. Our man now stretches the hose 
down the fifth row, instead of the third, and waters nine 
rows at a time, for now he waters the whole ground instead 
of the furrows. By compressing the end of the hose he 
is able to throw the water eight or ten feet each way. 
The ground is thoroughly soaked with warm water. In 
about three days we start the cultivator. 

*'The ground being underdrained thirty feet apart, all 
surplus water is immediately taken off, and this allows us 
to irrigate at least once a week, and to use the cultivator 
within a few days after, to keep the soil from baking. 
Under such treatment one can almost see the plants 
grow." 

Thus far my friend March. Let me add that this 
problem of irrigation is of the greatest importance to 
every commercial celery grower. If practically solved, 
there is nothing else of note in the way of highest success 
in celery culture, either old or new. 



VII. 

THE ENEMIES OF THE CROP. 
INSECTS AND DISEASES, AND HOW TO FIGHT THEM. 

THE PARSLEY WORM. — THE CABBAGE PLUSIA. — SLUGS. — CELERY 
BLIGHTS. — CELERY RUST. — BACTERIA. 

Unlike the majority of the choicer garden vegetables, 
celery has no insect enemies that might justly be called 
destructive or formidable. The few that attack the plant 
are easily kept in check by simple means. 

Insect Enemies. 

The most conspicuous and common among the two leaf- 
eaters, which are found on celery, is the ''celery cater- 
pillar," which, although quite handsome in its black and 
yellow-striped suit, makes itself decidedly disagreeable by 
the nauseating odor emitted from two yellow horns situated 
on the body just behind the head. The adult, a beautiful 
butterfly {Fapilio asierias), may be seen flitting to and fro 
about the celery plants, alighting here and there for the 
purpose of depositing its eggs. I always try to kill the 
beautiful mischief-maker whenever I have a chance. In 
Fig. 32, at b, it is shown in one of its favorite attitudes. 
The larva is seen at a. Usually we find only scattering 
specimens, and they may be picked off by hand, or killed 
by a puff of bubach (insect powder) from the bellows. 

The second leaf-eater is the cabbage plusia (^P lust a bras- 
sicce). At c, in same figure (32), you see the larva in 
the looping position, which it assumes when moving. It 
is about an inch long, of a pale-green color, with longi- 
tudinal lighter stripes. The head is small, and the body 

63 



64 



CELERY FOR PROFIT. 



gradually enlarges from the front backward. They are 
more frequently found on cabbages, lettuce, and a lot of 
other plants, than on celery ; but usually there are a num- 
ber of them together, making them more destructive when 
they do appear in the celery patch. Dusting with fresh 
insect powder, or spraying with kerosene emulsion, will kill 
them. The moth, shown at d, usually flies only by night, 
but occasionally may be found about in cloudy weather. 

Fig. 32. 




Celery Leaf-eaters. {Half Natural Size ?) 
a. Celery Caterpillar ; <^, Asterias Butterfly ; c, Cabbage Plusia Larva ; (f, Moth. 



More damage than is done by these leaf-eaters is often 
done by stalk-gnawing insects, especially by slugs. Against 
the latter, however, we have simple and effective remedies. 
The snails work at night. After dusk scatter powdered, 
fresh air-slaked lime over the plants and upon the ground, or 
during the later stages of growth, when slugs are most to be 



THE ENEMIES OF THE CROP, 65 

feared, spray thoroughly with strong lime-water, taking pains 
to reach well under the foliage and on the lower parts of 
the stalks. Salt water will also kill these slugs. 

Fungous Diseases. 

The disease which is most common in our celery patches, 
and gives us a great deal of trouble, is the celery blight, 
often wrongly called rust. It is due to the rapid growth of 
a fungus, known to mycologists as Cercospora Apii (Fr.), 
on the leaves. A leaflet, attacked by the blight is shown in 
Fig. T^T^, a. The disease is liable to attack the plants in all 
stages of growth, and at almost all seasons, but ordinarily 
makes its first appearance when the plants have reached 
considerable size, and then spreads rapidly in all kinds of 
weather, and in spite of all treatment. This, at least, is 
my experience. White Plume and Golden Self-bleaching 
are especially subject to this and other diseases. I have 
tried to keep the blight in check by thorough weekly appli- 
cations of various fungicides, including ammoniacal solu- 
tion of copper carbonate, solutions of sulphide of potas- 
sium, of corrosive sublimate, etc. ; but my success has by 
no means been encouraging. Usually, however, we can 
get the summer crop out of the way before the disease has 
made much headway, and done much damage. 

Above all things we should try to keep the blight from 
attacking the plant-beds. Never set a plant in open ground 
that shows the least infection. Raise plants, if possible, in 
a new location every year, and never use the same patch 
that has once been invaded by the enemy. Shading the 
plant-beds with lattice-work laid over a frame, will prob- 
ably keep the plants in health. Celery grown in a celery 
shed (see Fig. 27) will also be likely to remain free from 
the disease. 

Another leaf blight {Septorta Fetroselini, Des., var. Apii, 
5 



66 



CELERY FOR PROFIT, 



B. & C.) is also probably quite common, and maybe easily 
confounded with the other. The appearance of a blighted 
leaflet is shown at b, same figure. It differs from other 
celery blights, to the ordinary observer, in the more com- 
plete killing of the leaf affected. 



Fig. 33. 




Fungous Diseases of Celery. 
a, Leaf Blight ( Cercospora Apii, Fr.) ; h. Leaf Blight {Septoria Petroselini, Des., 
var. Apii, B. & C.) ; c. Leaf Spot {Phyllosticia Apii, Hals.) ; ^, Rust {Puc- 
cinia bullata, Wint.) ; e, Bacteria on Leaf; /", Core of Plant affected with 
Bacteria. 



The celery leaf spot (^Phyllosticta Apii, Hals.) begins as 
a dull-brown patch, never becoming of the light ashy color 
characteristic of the cercospora in one of its stages. A 



THE ENEMIES OF THE CROP. 67 

leaflet attacked by spots is seen at c. The leaf may be 
attacked only in one spot, which, continuing to enlarge, 
causes the whole to become brown and lifeless, followed by 
a torn condition. Two or three of these large, dead places 
may be all that the leaf contains, while the balance is 
healthy and deep green. 

The celery rust {Picccinia bullata and P. castagnei) has 
not yet been found in this country, although it appears to 
have a wide range geographically. A leaflet affected with 
P. bullata appears at d. 

More rapidly destructive, where it appears, than any of 
the preceding, is a bacterial disease which has not yet been 
fully investigated and classified. The germs, when intro- 
duced into the core of a plant, cause this tender portion to 
decay with greater rapidity than when placed in leaf tissue. 
The appearance of a leaf affected with bacteria is shown at 
e. All the dark portion abounds in germs. The central 
portion of a celery plant, with its heart infested and one 
of the outermost leaf stalks decayed and fallen, is shown 
at/. 

For much of this information about fungous diseases, as 
well as for the illustrations, I am indebted to a special 
bulletin on ''Some Fungous Diseases of the Celery," by 
Prof. Byron D. Halsted, issued by the New Jersey Experi- 
ment Station. I am sorry so little can be said concerning 
the remedial or preventive treatment of these fungous pests. 
My remarks about the treatment of Cercospora Apii apply 
to all the rest of these diseases. Most of the experimenters 
claim, however, that spraying with the ammoniacal solution 
of copper carbonate has resulted in checking some of these 
troubles, and in saving at least a partial crop. The tests 
should be continued. 



VIII. 
THE WINTERING PROBLEM. 

HOW TO KEEP AND BLANCH THE CROP FOR 
WINTER USE. 

REQUISITES OF SUCCESS. — STORING IN CELLAR. — STORAGE IN BOX. 

STORAGE IN HOTBED FRAME. — STORAGE IN TRENCHES. — STORAGE 
IN ROOT-HOUSES OR PITS. 

The principal requisites for success in keeping and 
blanching celery in winter storage are few and simple, 
namely : — 

(i) A storage place, dark, cool, frost-free, moist at the 
bottom, dry from overhead. A trench, a cave, a cellar 
may supply all these conditions, or if not, can usually be 
made to do so. Properly-constructed root or celery storage 
houses always must supply them. 

(2) Celery free from disease, taken up, usually with some 
soil still adhering to the roots, before the temperature has 
at any time fallen below about 25° Fahrenheit, which in 
my locality means by the first or middle of November. 

(3) Plants stood upright moderately close together, but 
not overcrowded enough to exclude all circulation of air 
around the foliage, with roots resting upon or in moist soil 
in one or the other of the "storage places named. That is 
about all. 

Storing for Family Use. 

One method has already been mentioned. Simply take 
up the plants at the time specified by prying under each 
plant with a spade, simultaneously taking hold of the tops 
with one hand and pulling. Then set them as closely 
together as the bunches of roots will permit, upon and 

68 



THE WINTERING PROBLEM. 69 

partially in a layer of moist muck or loam in a corner of 
the cellar. Keep this layer always moist, or wet, and the 
foliage always dry. Use the plants that were most nearly 
blanched first, saving those which had the least done to 
them in the field for the last. 

Fig. 34. 




Storing Celery in Box. 

Instead of putting them directly upon the cellar bottom, 
you may place them into a box of convenient size having 
a layer of muck or loam in the bottom. Just above this 
layer bore a few holes into the sides of the box, and through 
these you may apply water as needed. A box thus arranged 

Fig. 35. 




Stored in Hotbed Fkame. 



is shown in Fig. 34. Place the box in a corner of the 
cellar bottom. - 

Another good way for the home grower is shown in Fig. 
35. Throw the old soil and manure out of the hotbed, 
put in a little loam, and stand the celery upon and in this, 



70 



CELER V FOR PROFIT. 



as advised for storage, in the box. First cover with the 
shutters ; but when winter comes in real earnest, put fine 
hay or leaves upon the celery, filling the frame clear up to 
the top ; then replace the sashes and, finally, the shutters, 
and straw, hay, or other coarse materials, as a further 
protection in cold weather. The sides of the frame should 
be well banked up. A crop may also be grown in the hot- 
beds vacant at that season, by setting plants in them seven 
inches apart each way in July, watering freely; then, as the 




Storage in Trench. 



plants grow, putting another frame of similar dimensions 
upon the first one, thus enclosing the plants to their full 
height, and then covering up and protecting as already 
described. 

In an emergency, a few plants, nicely cleaned and 
trimmed, may be kept for some time by packing in alter- 
nate layers with moist sphagnum moss. Of course, they 
should stand top side up. 



THE WINTER TNG PROBLEM. 71 

Storing for Market Purposes. 
For storage on a large scale, the narrow trench system 
(see Fig. ^t^) offers the advantage of simplicity and cheap- 
ness, so far as equipments are concerned. In some well- 
drained spot dig a ditch, or ditches, not over a foot wide 
and just deep enough to sink the tops of the stored plants 
to the surface level. In taking up the plants, some soil 
may be left on the roots, but many growers, to save space, 
knock the soil all off before storing the plants. Pack them 
into the trench as closely as can well be done ; then either 
lay single, wide boards upon the ditch, or better, make 

Fig. 37. 



Trench for Storing Celery. 



troughs, from two boards each, and place them on as a 
cover. Stop up the ends with straw or leaves for ventila- 
tion. At the approach of cold weather put on some soil, 
and later some coarse manure, or the like. 

A wider trench is shown in Fig. 37. This plan has been 
practiced in various localities for many years. M. Garra- 
han, of Pennsylvania, gave me the following description 
of it:— 

'' We throw out a trench four feet in width, putting half 
the dirt on each side to facilitate covering. The trenches 
are just far enough apart to drive between and unload from 
each side. A board is run through the centre of the trench 



72 CELERY FOR PROFIT. 

to prevent the celery from crowding together too closely. 
The upper edge is about on a level with the top of the 
celery. If not packed too tight, it will keep longer with- 
out rotting. The trench is dug two feet deep, more or less. 
Rafters are cut from two by four scantlings (hemlock or 
chestnut), at an angle that will bring the peak or ridge four 
feet from the bottom of trench. Generally, three boards, 
a foot wide, will cover each side. Ventilators are made 
from common fence boards, inserted at reasonable dis- 
tances, and in severe weather stuffed with litter to exclude 
frost. 

*^For about two weeks after storing, celery will 'sweat' 
and throw off a great deal of moisture. We, therefore, slip 
the roof on as soon as we can after filling the trench, to 
keep off rain, and leave the soil covering off as long as we 
dare. At the approach of real cold weather, we simply 
put about a foot of earth all over the roof. With rafters 
four feet apart, we have no trouble about the roof settling 
under its weight. 

''The advantages of this plan are that one can store 
celery as fast as could be done in narrow trenches, and 
much faster than carrying the plants down cellar. It can 
be taken out at any time, and in any kind of weather. We 
also insure immunity from rats, as we take up the covering 
and plow the ground level in spring. Then we have a lot 
of lumber in the fall that has been used for banking up, so 
that it does not seem to cost much money." 

The " celery houses," or " celery pits," in use by celery 
growers in various sections, are constructed pretty much 
on the same general principle as the wide trench plan illus- 
trated in Fig. 37. They vary in width between six and 
twenty-four feet, and in length to suit the quantity to be 
stored. These wider ones have a ridge-pole resting on 
posts, and for the roof rails, slabs, or old boards may be laid 



THE WINTERING PROBLEM. 73 

across, from ground to ridge pole, and covered first with 
coarse litter and then with earth. Make the covering thick 
enough to keep out frost. At one end there should be a 
door, and a window and ventilator at the other. 

Such structures, of course^ require some attention during 
the winter. Air must be admitted from time to time, in 
suitable weather, to prevent rotting, and yet frost has to be 
excluded. 



IX. 

MARKETING METHODS. 
HOW TO TURN THE CROP INTO CASH. 

GENERAL ADVICE. — PREPARING CELERY FOR MARKET. — PACKAGES. — 
CRATE FOR SHIPPING SUMMER CELERY. 

It may be well to repeat some of the advice so frequently 
and properly given. Always cultivate your home market 
in preference to a distant market. Really good celery, 
such as any gardener can grow if he follows the directions 
given in this book closely, is so palatable and appetizing 
that you will have no trouble in getting your neighbors and 
townspeople to like it, and soon to find it indispensable. Try 
to tempt their appetites and to work up a trade. The taste 
for celery is growing, and when the article is really good, 
I find it always tempts the buyer. Even small towns, when 
well worked, can and will consume large amounts of this 
vegetable. 

When you have more than can be disposed of near home, 
work your nearest larger market. Don't ship everything 
to New York city, to Boston, and Philadelphia. The 
larger inland towns often give you good opportunities. The 
nearest larger city usually is your best market, unless a trial 
shipment to a more distant market proves that to yield better 
returns. 

Preparing for Market. 

All efforts should be made to get the article into the 
market as fresh and crisp and as attractive in appearance 
as possible. This may consume time, and require expense, 
but it should not be neglected on that account, and it will 
be found to be a well-paying investment. So far as the 

74 



MARKETING METHODS. 



75 



manner of trimming and arranging the stalks, and the style 
of packages are concerned, you must be guided by the 
whims and fashions of your particular market. 

The Kalamazoo shippers have made the bunch of one 
dozen plants common and popular in all markets ; but I 
think they make a slight mistake in trimming off the root 
with one square cut, as shown at A in Fig. 38. It seems to 
me much more preferable to trim with four slanting cuts, as 



Fig. 38. 



>r?A 







Ways of Trimming the Roots. 



shown at B. The plants are taken from the field or pit, 
freed from nearly all the unbleached leaves as well as from 
the root part, then placed, a dozen at a time, into a square 
frame and tied firmly. We then have bundles of a dozen 
plants each, and these are tightly packed in flat boxes and 
sent to market. 

During August and September 1892 I have shipped the 
results of the ''New Culture" to Buffalo, and notwith- 



76 CELERY FOR PROFIT. 

standing the glut and low prices prevailing in the markets 
during that season, and notwithstanding the fact that the 
stalks were not bleached as perfectly as closer planting (or 
boarding up) would have done, the cash returns were 
enough to pay me moderately well. 

On mucky or otherwise very loose soils the plants, when 
not earthed up, may be pulled up easily and expeditiously by 
hand. On more tenacious soil, or if plants were earthed 
up, you will have to make use of spade or shovel. 

Fig. 39. 






^' 



€> 




Bunch of Celery. 

Two large tanks or tubs filled with water should be 
handy by for washing and rinsing the plants. As fast as 
the plants are taken up, from pit or field, remove the super- 
fluous leaves, cut away the roots ; then give the plants a 
thorough washing, getting them thoroughly clean by scrub- 
bing with a brush or broom, and then rinsing in the second 
tank or tub. Then tie them in bunches as the market 
requires, and ship them in the customary package. 

Another method of preparing celery for market, in use by 
Eastern growers, is the one illustrated in Fig. 39. The 



MA RKE TING ME THODS. 



77 



plants are cleansed and trimmed, so that the heart of each 
is well exposed, giving the plant a somewhat flattish shape. 
Then from two to four, and even up to five roots, according 
to size, are fastened together as shown in illustration, either 
by means of a long nail driven through the base of the 
plants, or by tying with twine, and always in such a man- 
ner that the hearts are all exposed to view on one side. 
The Boston market demands that the crop shall be exposed 
for sale in oblong boxes which equal a barrel in capacity. 

Fig. 40, 




Open Crate for Shipping Celery. 



and that the bunches of celery be of such a size that three 
dozen of them will fill the box even full. 

New Jersey growers often pack the bunches tightly in 
large barrels, making bunches of which from three to four 
dozen will fill the barrel. 

For most local markets the grower may use any kind of 
package — box, crate, or barrel — which he finds most avail- 
able or most convenient. I have shipped part of my crop 
in bunches of a dozen roots each to the near Buffalo mar- 
kets, packed in open crates as shown in Fig. 40. This plan 
works all right provided you can ship the freshly-gathered 



78 



CELER V FOR PROFIT. 



and prepared plants in the evening, as I do, and have them 
in market by four or five o'clock the next morning, and 
usually sold the same forenoon. Celery, if left lying about 
open in commission and retail stores, soon deteriorates, and 
at last becomes worthless. I always instruct my commis- 
sion merchant to sell without much delay, at a small price 
if he cannot get a big one, but to sell any way. 

Crate for Shipping Summer Celery. 
Not everybody is so situated that he can get his crop 
into the retailer's or consumer's hand thus promptly. The 
risks in consequence of wilting are especially serious with 

Fig. 41. 




Crate for Summer Celery. 



the summer crop. Mr. Robert Niven has used the crate 
illustrated in Fig. 41 with satisfactory results. 

It is made of three-quarter-inch stuff, one side being 
twenty inches long, the other fourteen and a half inches 
long. The lower slats have a width of four inches, the 
upper ones a width of one and a half inches. The posts 
are twelve inches long and one inch square, and nailed 
inside the corners. The joints are mitred and painted 
before nailing together, and the bottom is made water- 
tight all around. 

The plants to be shipped in these crates are left with 
roots on. They are properly washed and rinsed, then 



MARKETING METHODS. 79 

bunched, and packed upright into the crates, enough water 
being poured into the latter to cover the roots. Thus put 
up, the celery will keep for a week or longer in good con- 
dition, and the commission merchants may thus ship them 
safely to hotels and stores throughout the country. 



PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT. 

THE OUTCOME IN DOLLARS AND CENTS. 

ESTIMATES OF PROFIT. — LOSS NOT IMPOSSIBLE. — PROFITS OF THE 
SUMMER CROP, — PROFITS OF THE WINTER CROP. — FINAL WORD 
OF WARNING. 

Before engaging in a new enterprise, the prudent busi- 
ness man always tries to figure out the exact amount of 
profits that he thinks he may expect as the final outcome 
of his venture. This is no more than it should be. In 
the course of similar arithmetical efforts, the celery grower 
obtains a mental view of the possibilities of the crop, and 
an aim for his labors. 

This is not all. The soil-tiller is very likely to look over 
his crops from time to time, and watch their progress, and 
figure out in his mind how much they may yield him in 
clean cash. Few people, however, are in the situation, or 
will try to make as careful an estimate of the expenses and 
returns a year ahead, as the State and National Govern- 
ments, for instance, are in the habit of making yearly of 
their revenues and disbursements. The reason, too, is 
plain. There are only too many elements of uncertainty, 
too many unknown quantities, in the figures which have 
to serve as basis for the soil-tiller's calculations. Who can 
tell what the season will be — whether a favorable one or 
not? Who can foresee what accidents may befall the 
crop ? Who can know what prices will be ruling — whether 
high or low? Many of the conditions that influence plant 
growth are yet shrouded in mystery. Even the individual 

80 



PR OFIT AND L OSS A CCO UNT. 81 

grower, who knows all the details of his environments, 
who is thoroughly acquainted with his. soil and its treat- 
ment, his location and its special adaptabilities, his markets 
and their whims, etc., cannot, with entire safety, make a 
reliable estimate. If I undertake to make it for others, I 
can only do so under the assumption that the conditions of 
soil and market, etc., are such as I have advised to select, 
and such as represent a moderately favorable combina- 
tion. 

The soil-tiller's estimates, in fact, are seldom safe. The 
ruling emotion in the human heart is hope. It is just what 
stimulates our efforts and actions. Without it all would be 
stagnancy, despair, death. We are inclined to take a rosy 
view of the situation, and thus we usually rest our calcula- 
tions on the possible combination of conditions that are all 
favorable, rather than on the far more probable mixture of 
favorable, unfavorable, and indifferent conditions. Some- 
times the '' carefully made" estimates may show a nice 
profit, but when the balance is drawn after the crop is all 
disposed of, the books may show an actual loss. The crop 
is an expensive one. For the person who has made an in- 
judicious selection of environments, or for the careless 
manager, loss, in short, is not an impossibility. But it 
should not occur otherwise. 

Still it may be well to aim high. We may set a mark 
aomew^hat below the possibilities of the crop and within 
reach and reason, and then try to hit it or at least to work 
as near to it as possible. Close watch of the development 
of the crops, of the prices, etc., will soon show us the causes 
of failures which seldom are entirely avoided in our first 
trials. With the causes once known to us, a little effort 
will soon enable us to find the proper remedies. "If at 
first you don't succeed, try, try again ! " 
6 



82 CELERY FOR PROFIT. 

In the following I give rough estimates of the outcome in 
growing the crop : — 

ESTIMATED PROFITS OF THE SUMMER CROP GROWN 
BY THE OLD CULTURE. 

Expenses per Acre, 

To jrrowing 25,000 plants under glass, seed included, $35 00 

*' Rent of land, 15 00 

" Manure and fertilizers, including application, . . 50 00 

" Plowing, harrowing, marking, 8 00 

" Setting the plants, 8 00 

" Cultivating, handling, hilling, 12 00 

" Gathering, trimming, washing, bunching, ... 25 00 

'* Packing and Packages, 25 00 

" Cartage and Incidentals, 12 00 

" Commission and transportation, 70 co 

Total expenses, ^260 00 



Returns. 

By 1500 dozen bunches @, 30 cts, ^45 o 00 

Deduct expenses, 260 00 

Net profits, ^190 00 

If the crop can be disposed of in a local market, to 
dealers or regular retail customers, the largest item in the 
expense account — commission and transportation, ^70.00 — 
can be saved, and nearly all of it added to the net profits. 
Possibly higher prices, also, may be secured for this early 
crop, so that it would not be so very extravagant, under 
these favorable circumstances, to figure on nearly ^300 net 
profits from an acre of ground in early celery. If the 
grower can obtain such results, he is on the high road to 
success. 

On the other hand, if he has to buy his plants, they may 
cost him ^75.00 instead of ^35.00. The land may be worth 
^500.00 an acre, bringing the rent up to ^30.00 instead of 
^15.00. If the earthing up is all done with hand tools 



PR OFIT AND L OSS A CCO UNT. 83 

instead ofcelery hilling machines, the cost of *^ cultivating," 
handling, hilling, may be many times t"he amount stated 
(;^ 1 2.00). Possibly also there may happen to be a glut in 
the market, and your bunches sell for 25 or even 20 cents 
each. In short, if many unfavorable conditions should 
happen to work together, the profits may be all consumed 
to the last cent, and the grower will have to be thankful if 
he gets his expenses back and good pay for his own labor, 
even without a penny of clear profit. 

ESTIMATED PROFITS OF THE SUMMER CROP GROWN 
BY THE NEW CULTURE. 

Expenses ter Acre. 

To growing 115,000 plants, seed included, .... $125 00 

" Rent of land, 25 00 

" Compost, including application, , 75 00 

" Fertilizers, . 75 00 

" Plowing, harrowing, marking, 10 00 

" Setting the plants, 30 00 

" Irrigating, 50 00 

" Cultivating and weeding, 20 00 

" Gathering, cleaning, bunching, 60 00 

" Packing and packages, 80 00 

" Cartage and incidentals, 45 00 

" Commission and transportation, 325 00 

Total expenses, ^920 00 



Returns. 

By 7000 dozen bunches @ 30 cts , $2100 00 

Deduct expenses, 920 00 

Net profits ^1180 00 

It will be seen that the crop, at first sight, appears to be 
exceedingly expensive ; yet the net profits, when the 
accompanying conditions are right, prove to be correspond- 
ingly large. As in the case of the crop grown in the old 
way, the grower who has a near local market may possibly 



64 CELERY FOR PROFIT, 

sell his crop without having to pay commission and 
transportation expenses, and thus increase his profits 
materially ; or he may have to buy his plants, and be 
satisfied with a smaller price than the one given in my 
estimate, and see his profits dwindle down. In all these 
estimates I allow about 25 per cent, of the plants set out 
for culls. 



ESTIMATED PROFITS OF THE LATE CROP GROWN BY 
THE OLD CULTURE. 

Expenses per Acre. 

To growing 25,000 plants in open air, ^10 00 

" Rent of land, 15 00 

" Manure and fertilizers, 50 00 

" Plowing, harrowing, marking, 8 00 

*' Setting the plants, 8 00 

" Cultivating, handling, hilling, 12 00 

" Storing in trenches or root houses, 50 00 

" Trimming, washing, bunching, 25 00 

" Packing and packages, ". . . . 25 00 

" Cartage and incidentals, 12 00 

" Commission and transportation, 70 00 

Total expenses, I285 00 



Returns. 

By 1500 dozen bunches @ 30 cts., ^45o 00 

Deduct expenses, 285 00 

Net profits, ^165 00 



The loss in wintering the crop, or part of the crop, is 
sometimes quite considerable. Often disease takes hold of 
the plants, and spreads rapidly even while they are in winter 
quarters, ruining a large part. 

In growing the late crop by the '' new culture," we will 
meet with difiiculties in storing. It takes large storage 
capacities (one-fourth of an acre) to store the product of an 
acre of ground, and a great deal of time and labor. But 



PR OFIT A ND L OSS ACCO UNT. 85 

the profits are correspondingly large also, if the crop is 
good, and the product in demand. 



ESTIMATED PROFITS OF THE LATE CROP GROWN BY 
THE NEW CULTURE. 

Expenses per Acre. 

To growing 115,000 plants outdoors, %\o 00 

" Rent of land, 25 00 

" Compost, including application, 75 00 

" Fertilizers, 75 00 

" Plowing, harrowing, marking, lo 00 

*' Setting the plants, 30 00 

" Irrigating, 25 00 

** Cultivating and weeding, 20 00 

" Gathering and storing, 150 00 

" Trimming, washing, bunching, 75 0° 

" Packing and packages, loo 00 

" Cartage and incidentals, 40 00 

" Commission and transportation, 285 00 

Total expenses, ^950 00 



Returns. 

By 6000 dozen bunches @, 30 cts., ^1800 00 

Deduct expenses, ^95° 00 

Net profits, ^850 00 

These are again subject to changes as already explained. 

A Final Word of Warning. 
Now once more let me give a word of warning and 
caution. Don't let these figures tempt you. Don't try to 
begin on an acre scale. If you have never grown celery 
before, start in slowly, cautiously. It is safer to begin with 
a square rod than with an acre. Learn by experience, and 
when you have become familiar with the requirements of 
the crop, and are sure you can supply them, theji is the 
time to embark more largely in this line of business. 



ONIONS FOR PROFIT. 

A Full and Complete Hand=Book of Onion Growing. 



At last we publish a really complete hand-book on Onion grow- 
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being com plete. It leaves 
too much room for per- 
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looked the field of horti- 
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America over pretty 
closely, and am unable to 
find a hand-book for the 
Onion grower the teach- 
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on modern methods and 
embody (as they should 
in order to justify any 
claims of being ' up-to- 
the-times ') the two meth- 
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in profitable combina- 
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There is Big Money 

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farmer's boy everywhere. No more practical and successful Onion grower than 
Mr. Greiner can be found, and he gives his latest knowledge in Onions for 
Profit without reserve. The book will undoubtedly mark an epoch in works 
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Every reasonable question as to Onion growing is answered in its over one 
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Price, Postpaid, 50 Cents, 

or can be selected FREE as a premium on or- 
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PHIL-ADELPHIA,Py\. 



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MANURES: 

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HOWTOrtAKE 

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HOW AND WHAT TO GROW 

IN A 

Kitchen Ga rden o f One Acre. 

FULLY ILLUSTRATED. 
Price so Cents in Paper; 75 Cents in Cloth. 

Tliis new book of nearly 200 pages will prove very valuable to 
all engaged in gardening : it gives sound, common-sense views and 
practical teachings-so plain that the most inexperienced need not 

fail— so complete that experi- 
enced gardeners can read it 
witli pleasure and profit. It is 
fully illustrated, and entei-s so 
thoroughly into details that it 
will undoubtedly be warmly 
welcomed by the thousands, 
who inquire, every year, What 
is the best book on Qarden= 
ing? Among other subjects 
its contents embrace : — 
Selection of Location— Preparing the 
Soil— Laying out the Garden to in- 
clude the various Vegetables and 
Fruits, and securing to each the 
IMost Suitable Location— Planting 
and Care of Small Fruits— The Best 
Varieties of Small Fruits, and Har- 
vesting Same— Directions for Mak- 
ing and Care of Hot-beds— Raising 
Vegetable Plants — Transplanting 
-Sowing Seeds-Practical Directions for the Special Cultivation of all Vege- 
tables-Notes oh the Merits of the Different Varieties of Vegetables-Manures 
-Description, Proper Uses, and Care of Garden Implements-How to Grow 
Second Crops to best Economize the Land and ^lanure-The AVinter Storage of 
Vegetables- The Use and INLanagemeut of Cold Frames in Winter — Winter 
Care and PruiMUg of Small Fruits-Culture of Succulent Roots and Bulbs- 
Herbs, their Uses and Manner of Growing. 

Jl^- The paper-cover edition can be had FREE, as a premium, 

on a seed order of $5.00 ; or bound in cloth, on a seed order amount- 
ing to $7.50. 

PUBLISHED BY 

W. ATLEE BURPEE & CO., PHILADELPHIA, PA. 




HOW TO GROW 

Cabbages and Cauliflowers 

MOST PROFITABLY. 

This book gives the most complete information on the successful growing of 
these important crops, and treats fully on : — 

How to succeed with CABBAGES— The Best Soils— The Cabbage a Greedy 
Feeder— Manures— Planting and Cultivation — Insects— Early Cabbages— Late 
Cabbages— Cutting and Marketing. 

CAULIFLOWER— Selection of Land— Making Seed Bed and Sowing Seed- 
Cultivation— The Earliest Forcing of Cauliflowers— Cauliflower in the Open 
Ground — For the Family Garden — Enemies of the Cauliflower — Varieties — 
Tying and Bleaching — Cutting — Trimming — Packing for Market — How to Keep 
for Winter Use. 

Few, if any, crops yield larger returns than Cabbage and Cauliflower, and 
with this treatise on " How to Grow," success is reasonably assured. Illus- 
trated. 

Price, postpaid, 30 cts.; or can be selected FREE as a premium on orders 
amounting to $^3.00 or more. 



How TO Grow Melons 

FOR MARKET. 

In order to present the subject to our readers in the most comprehensive and 
concise manner, we have compiled from the Prize Essays, and our own experi- 
ence, a treatise that we think will be of value to every melon grower. It treats 
of both Muskmelons and AVatermelons, with full information on the selection of 
soil, use and application of manures, selection of suitable and profltable varieties, 
planting of seed, destruction of insects, copious notes on the cultivation of the 
crop, how to grow extra large melons, how and when to gather for market, etc. 

Price, postpaid, 30 cts. ; or can be selected FREE as a premium on orders 
amounting to S3.00 or more. 



ROOT CROPS 

For Stock Feeding. 

Especially those who have never grown Root Crops should read ROOT CROPS 
FOR STOCK FEEDING and How to Grow Them. Illustrated. A 
practical little treatise compiled from the Prize Essays. Edited by W. Atlee 
Burpee, with copious additions from our own experience in growing these 
crops. It treats fully not only on How^ to Grow^, but also How to Store and How 
to Feed ; it also gives careful notes on the most profitable varieties. In these 
days of low prices for cereals and high valuation of land. Root Crops for 
Stock Feeding is a subject of the gi'eatest importance to every farmer who 
desires the Farm to Pay a Profit. It is our earnest desire that the publication 
of this treatise may greatly increase the growing of Root Crops in the United 
States, where this branch of Agriculture is yet in its infancy. 

Price, postpaid, 30 cts. ; or can be selected FREE as a premium on orders 
amounting to $3.00 or more. 

PUBLISHED BY 

W. ATLEE BURPEE & CO., PHILADELPHIA, PA. 



HOW TO GROW ONIONS; 

WITH NOTES ON VARIETIES. 



A complete and exhaustive treatise; in every way a thor- 
oughly reliable guide for all who purpose growing this most 
profitable crop. This book will open a new field for profit 
to many who have previously been deterred from growing onions 
for market. It gives in full the prize essay with the above 
title, by Mr. T. Greiner, 
of Monmouth County, N. J. ; 
also Onion Growing by Ir= 
rigation, by Col. C. H. 
Arlie, of Lake View, Ore- 
gon — carefully edited, with 
additional notes, including 
an article on growing Sets, by 
W. Atlee Burpee. Be- 
sides other matter, it gives 
complete instruction on the 
following subjects: — 

Kinds of Soil— Preparation of the Soil 
— Manures : How, When, and What 
KindstoApply— Seed— Sowing the 
Seed— Rolling— Cultivation— Hand 
Weeding— The Most Useful Imple- 
ments—Thinning — Injurious In- 
sects—Harvesting the Crop— How 
to Market — .Storing for Winter — 
American Varieties of Onions— Italian Varieties— How to Grow, Handle, and 
Store Onion Sets— Onion Growing by Irrigation. 

Each subject connected with growing onions is treated in a 
plain and practical manner, so that Farmers who have never 
before raised onions for market can succeed, while even experi- 
enced growers may find many facts of interest. 

Illustrated, Price 30 Cents, Postpaid, 

or can be selected FREE as a premium on or- 
ders amounting to THREE DOLLARS or more. 




PUBLISHED BY 

W. ATLEE BURPEE & CO., PHILADELPHIA, PA, 



TO SUCCEED IN GARDENING 

YOU MUST HAVE 

FIRST-RATE SEED. 

Do you know what a first-rate seed -Is ? It 
is bred up, just as a horse or cow or dog or hen 
is. Vegetables and flowers are poor in their 
natural state ; they are fair in their usual state ; 
they are rich in the proper seedsman's proving- 
ground. And the richer they are the more un- 
stable they are ; they tend back, as water runs 
down hill. A first-rate vegetable or flower seed 
goes back to a lower grade as soon as it ceases 
to feel the seedsman's care. This care is not 
cultivation ; it is sorting out and breeding up. 
The wise gardener trusts no seedsman's seeds 
in the next generation. He gathers no seeds 
himself; he buys of his seedsman every year; 
and so does his wife. 

You see, the farmer's and gardener's first anx- 
iety is, not plows and harrows, but seeds. Any 
plow will plow ; any harrow will harrow ; but 
first-rate seeds he must have, or fail in his crops. 

Many gardeners fail and don't know it. 

Ifyouwantto know all about first-rate seeds, — where and 
how they are grown, — write for 

Burpee's Farm Annual for 1893, 

a handsome book of 172 pages. It tells all about the best 
SEEDS that grow, including rare Novelties of real merit. Hon- 
est descriptions and hundreds of illustrations, with beautiful 
colored plates painted from nature. Important new features for 
1893, — original and interesting. Mailed free to intending pur- 
chasers ; to others for 10 cents, which is less than actual cost. 

W. ATLEE BURPEE & CO., 

SEED GROWERS, PHILADELPHIA, PA. 



Burpee's 
Farm Annual 

is cheerfully given free to anyone wanting good 
seeds. But as each copy in quarter-million editions 
costs nearly fifteen cents,— when everything is 
counted ; you see we must have some rules— and 
we dislike rules. 

If you want seeds and have not a copy of the 
Farm Annual send us a postal card to-day, and 
it will come free by return mail. 

If you order, no matter how little, and desire 
the Farm Annual, you have only to ask for it with 
your order. 

The Edition for 1893 

is better than ever before. A handsome book of 172 pages ; 
it tells all about the best seeds that grow, including rare 
novelties of real merit ; honest descriptions and hundreds 
of illustrations, with beautiful colored plates painted from 
nature. Important new features for 1893,— original and 
interesting. 

Any seed buyer can have a copy free, whether our 
customer or not, no matter. We count on a fair 
hearing. 

If you are not a seed buyer, but merely want a 
nice book— and it is a nice book,— you should enclose 
ten cents, which is only part of the cost. 

Put yourself in our place. 

W. Atlee Burpee & Co., Seed Growers, 

Philadelphia, Pa. 




GIANT PASCAL CELERY. 



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